Donald Trump has voiced support for providing financial assistance to individuals convicted or charged in connection with the January 6 Capitol riot.
Why It Matters
On the first day he took office in January, Trump pardoned almost every individual convicted of crimes related to the deadly January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol and commuted the sentences of the remaining 14. Some of those Trump pardoned or granted clemency to are facing separate charges ranging from sexual abuse to domestic violence.
Trump’s blanket pardon for the January 6 rioters fulfilled a key campaign pledge, although he had previously not committed to offering monetary compensation.
The January 6, 2021 attack caused millions of dollars of damage at the U.S. Capitol and about 140 police officers were injured.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
What To Know
In an interview with Newsmax on Tuesday night, Trump suggested that the January 6 rioters he pardoned could get compensation payments.
During the interview, he referred to the January 6 rioters as “patriots” and claimed they were “treated very unfairly” by the government.
He added that those at the Capitol were there “peacefully and patriotically” and said “a lot of the people that are in the government now talk about” compensating them “because a lot of the people in government really like that group of people.”
Trump also paid tribute to Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot by a police officer as she attempted to climb through a broken window into the Speaker’s Lobby during the January 6, 2021 riot.
“Ashli Babbitt was a really good person who was a big MAGA fan, Trump fan, and she was innocently standing there,” he said. “And a man did something to her that was unthinkable when he shot her.”
When Newsmax’s Greg Kelly asked whether he would take action against Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd, who was cleared of wrongdoing in Babbitt’s shooting, Trump replied, “I’m going to take a look at it.”
Some of the freed January 6 rioters and their advocates have long called for financial reparations for those who took part in the Capitol attack. But Trump had previously stopped short of supporting financial compensation as an option.
The Justice Department and Capitol administrators previously estimated that the costs of cleanup and repairs following the January 6 riots totals nearly $3 million. However, a February 2023 review by the Government Accountability Office estimated actual costs of nearly $2.7 billion.
“This amount reflects, among other things, damage to the Capitol building and grounds, estimated costs borne by the Capitol Police, the District of Columbia, and federal agencies, and estimated costs to address security needs and investigations as described in budget and funding requests, appropriations, agency estimates, and other publicly available information,” the agency’s report said.
Federal judges had previously ordered hundreds of the defendants to make restitution to the federal government to offset the costs of the repairs at the U.S. Capitol, but only 15 percent was paid before Trump issued blanket pardons on January 20, hours after his inauguration.
As a result, taxpayers are now expected to be on the hook for most of the damage, cleanup and costs of the insurrection.
Democrats on the U.S. House Oversight Committee launched a review on Monday to determine how much of the millions of dollars in damages from the January 6 riot remain unpaid by the rioters.
In a letter to Architect of the Capitol Thomas Austin, Representative Gerry Connolly, the committee’s top Democrat, requested updated estimates on how much of the costs are being covered by federal taxpayers.
“Restitution was one of the most common sentences handed down to January 6th insurrectionists, but offenders were slow to repay their obligations, and taxpayers were far from being made whole,” Connolly wrote. He also stressed that the official damage cost figures from the Architect of the Capitol remain unknown and must be released.
What People Are Saying
Donald Trump said during a Newsmax interview: “A lot of people in government really like that group of people. They were patriots as far as I was concerned, I talk about them a lot. They were treated very unfairly, you know?”
What Happens Next
It is still unclear if the January 6 rioters will be provided with financial compensation. The president has not laid out any plan for this.