For years, many of the people charged in connection with January 6 insisted they were not criminals but political victims — casualties of what they viewed as a weaponized federal government determined to make examples out of Trump supporters after the Capitol riot.
Now, after the Trump administration formally created a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” some of those same rioters are reacting with a mixture of vindication, disbelief, and anticipation at the possibility they could receive taxpayer-funded compensation from the government they once attacked.
Among them is Antony Vo, a pardoned January 6 defendant who briefly fled the country to avoid serving his prison sentence before eventually returning to face the consequences of his case.
When another former January 6 defendant texted him Monday morning about the newly created compensation fund, Vo said he initially did not understand how it had emerged as part of a broader legal settlement tied to President Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS.
But the details mattered less than the feeling it produced.
“I’m glad it turned into something,” Vo said, “that could help people who have been hurting for quite a while now.”
That reaction appears widespread among many of the so-called “J6ers,” who have spent years arguing that federal prosecutions tied to the Capitol riot amounted to political persecution rather than ordinary criminal accountability.
Some now see the fund as official validation of that argument.
“This is the UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE acknowledging the possibility that Americans were targeted through political abuse of government power,” wrote Tommy Tatum, a Mississippi man charged with civil disorder after interfering with police during the riot. “That is historic.”
Others are simply stunned that financial payouts are even being discussed.
“So many questions,” said Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader who was sentenced to 22 years in prison on seditious conspiracy charges before later receiving clemency under Trump. “But it’s a good direction.”
The possibility of compensation for January 6 defendants has circulated inside the Justice Department for months, according to reports, amid internal disputes over whether restitution should be considered for people prosecuted after the riot.
But critics argue the fund represents the latest and perhaps most dramatic step yet in Trump’s ongoing effort to completely reframe the legacy of January 6.
Within hours of returning to office for his second term, Trump issued sweeping pardons or dismissals covering nearly all of the roughly 1,600 people charged in connection with the Capitol attack. He also moved aggressively to purge prosecutors and FBI officials involved in January 6 investigations.
Now, critics note, some of those same rioters could potentially receive taxpayer money.
At a Senate hearing Tuesday, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche declined to rule out violent offenders receiving payouts from the fund, further intensifying backlash.
The controversy has drawn criticism even from some Republicans, who argue the program risks rewarding political violence while further eroding public trust in the justice system.
“It proves that extremism pays — literally,” said Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.
“Over the last decade, we’ve seen this trajectory of conspiracy theories on the fringes moving to the mainstream and being normalized because of Trump and other elected leaders,” she added. “Now they’re not just being normalized, they’re actually being encouraged by financial incentives.”
Trump himself has offered mixed public comments about the fund, at times downplaying his direct involvement while also defending its purpose.
“These were people that were weaponized and really treated brutally by a system that was so corrupt,” Trump said Monday.
Importantly, January 6 defendants are not the only people potentially eligible for compensation.
The Anti-Weaponization Fund is also expected to consider claims from anti-abortion activists prosecuted during the Biden administration, conservative organizations investigated by the IRS, and others alleging politically motivated treatment by federal agencies.
That could potentially include several high-profile Trump allies.
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon served prison time for contempt of Congress after defying a subpoena from the January 6 committee. Peter Navarro served a similar sentence. Numerous Trump aides and allies also spent enormous sums on legal representation connected to investigations led by special counsel Jack Smith.
Even some of Trump’s critics have sarcastically suggested they might apply.
Former FBI Director James Comey — himself indicted twice since Trump returned to office — joked Monday that perhaps he now qualifies too.
“So I’m guessing I’ll be in line,” Comey said during a television appearance.
For now, many January 6 defendants are already calculating hypothetical payouts.
At its current cap of $1.776 billion — a symbolic reference to America’s founding year — the math works out to roughly $1.125 million per person if all January 6 defendants filed equal claims and nobody else participated.
Of course, that is highly unlikely.
Still, after years of prosecutions, prison sentences, financial ruin, and public stigma, some former defendants now view even the possibility of compensation as proof that the political winds have completely shifted in their favor.
“We’ve been trampled on so much,” said January 6 defendant Daniel Christmann. “I think finally we feel like we’re getting a little something.”
