Jan 6ers and other Trump allies already lining up to get their hands on slice of his $1.8B ‘slush fund’

Hundreds of people accused of joining a mob that fought police and broke into the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, are looking for multi-million dollar payouts from a nearly $1.8 billion compensation fund launched by Donald Trump’s administration.

They join other Trump supporters lining up for potentially seven-figure checks from the administration, which has opened a fund to “victims” of government “lawfare and weaponization,” what critics have called a “slush fund” that rewards his allies.

Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison for treason-related charges connected to the attack, told Reuters that he anticipates receiving a payout between $2 and $5 million.

“I’m not greedy,” he said. “But my life was all f***** up because of this.”

Peter Ticktin, an attorney representing more than 400 January 6 defendants, said $1.8 billion may not be enough. “People lost multi-million dollar businesses while they were locked up,” he told Reuters. “I don’t think the DOJ is ready for us ⁠yet.”

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Jonathan Gross, another lawyer who represents January 6 defendants, has asked Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for a meeting to discuss what he called “the worst example of mass lawfare in American history.”

“If we are to prevent it from ever happening again, it is essential that you hear the full story directly from the victims,” he wrote in a letter to the acting attorney general on May 20. “Families were destroyed, lives were lost, and countless individuals, including young children, continue to suffer devastating consequences.”

More than 1,500 people were criminally charged in connection with the riots, fueled by Trump’s false narrative that the 2020 presidential election was rigged and stolen from him. Hundreds of defendants pleaded guilty, and more than 200 others were found guilty at trial.

Virtually all of them received a pardon from the president.

Adam Christian Johnson, who was photographed carrying the speaker’s lectern, said he’s considering flying to D.C. to deliver his claim to the Justice Department “personally.”

Johnson, who goes by “The Lectern Guy” on social media and uses the photo as his profile picture, complained that “the infamy gained from this photo will be in history books.”

“What they did to me will have a generational effect on my family and their livelihoods,” he wrote on X. “My face and the accusation of being a thief was shared globally... for years. It still persists today … harming my chances to win my local election or lead a normal life.”

He said his attorney fees totaled $100,000 and he spent another $150,000 in “publicity” to “clear my name and restore my reputation.”

Yvonne St. Cyr compared herself to Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane when a judge handed her a 30-month-long prison sentence for crawling through a Senate window on January 6. She was also ordered to pay more than $3,000 in fines.

She told The Washington Post that she hopes to get $10 million.

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The $1.776 fund joins the president’s ongoing attempts to rewrite the history of the 2020 election and downplay the violence that was captured on video and admitted by assailants who tried to stop members of Congress from certifying his loss.

Blanche has not ruled out millions of taxpayer dollars going to people who assaulted law enforcement officers during the Capitol attack. The first of what is expected to be several lawsuits against the “weaponization” fund came from two law enforcement officers who were beaten and bloodied by a mob of Trump’s supporters that day.

Trump told reporters on Wednesday that the victims of “weaponization” under the Obama and Biden administrations — an apparent reference to his allies who were investigated in connection with his 2016 and 2020 campaigns and the attack on the Capitol — were “destroyed, they went to jail, their families were ruined, they committed suicide.”

“We’re reimbursing those people for their legal fees and for their costs, and for anybody involved,” he said. “It was the most violent thing I’ve ever seen in politics.”

Election conspiracy theorist and pillow salesman Mike Lindell is also considering a claim against the government. Lindell, whose phone was seized by the FBI in apparent connection with investigations into an alleged nationwide conspiracy to overturn election results, said his company lost “millions and millions of dollars” after he joined spurious legal battles against Trump’s loss.

He told his pro-Trump media network, LindellTV, this week that MyPillow lost $400 million in value.

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Lindell, who was ordered to pay millions of dollars in damages after losing two defamation lawsuits brought by voting machine companies, said a potential payout from the federal government would be a “blessing” to his employees.

“It’s just horrific that our own government could do this to the American dream,” he said. “It would be a blessing to actually get some of my employees made whole, who were stockholders in MyPillow.”

One American News Network, the unabashedly pro-Trump outlet that amplified false claims that the 2020 election was rigged against him, is also “seriously considering” a claim.

OAN lawyer Chris Babcock told CNN that the company will “make a decision shortly” on whether to seek any money from the fund.

Former congressman George Santos, whose prison sentence on identity theft and wire fraud charges was commuted by the president earlier this year, told The Washington Post that he is also considering applying for the fund — not for cash but for an apology from the government.

“It’s not a monetary issue for me. I’m not injured. I’m able to maintain income,” he told the newspaper. “I want to correct the record. I think it’s a great avenue to do so.”

The first known potential claimant is former Trump adviser Michael Caputo, who was investigated by former special counsel Robert Mueller in connection with an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections. He was never charged and is seeking $2.7 million.

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