Trump won’t rule out payments to Jan. 6 rioters

President Donald Trump isn’t ruling out the possibility of providing payouts to Jan. 6 rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol, including those who pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers. 

In an interview that aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the president also continued to advocate for the so-called “Anti-Weaponization Fund” that would compensate those that were allegedly wrongly targeted under the Biden administration.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche last week told a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing that the administration would not go forward with the fund, though he wouldn’t commit to codifying that. But on Friday, a Department of Justice attorney officially put in writing that plans to move forward with the fund would not move forward. 

“So me, personally, I think the weaponization fund is a great idea, and so do many other Republicans. You have to get it approved. If they get it approved, that’s great. If they don’t get it approved, I’d be disappointed,” Trump told NBC’s Kristen Welker in the interview which was taped Friday at a farmers’ roundtable event in Wisconsin.

More than 1,580 people were charged criminally in federal court in connection with Jan. 6, according to the Department of Justice. More than 1,000 pleaded guilty. At least 221 individuals were found guilty at contested trials and another 40 individuals were convicted following an agreed-upon set of facts presented to and accepted by the court. 

Trump issued a blanket clemency to those associated with the insurrection on his first day in office.

Asked if he is looking for a way to revive the fund, Trump said, “Well, look, it was up to me. I’d pay them the kind of money that they deserve,” and insisted that those who were prosecuted have had their lives “destroyed.”

Later in the interview, Trump said he doesn’t know what will happen with the fund, but said, “I love the idea.”

Trump was asked whether he would be okay with Jan. 6 rioters receiving taxpayer dollars, and he did not rule that out, saying he “wouldn’t be inclined to say so, but I have to see it.”

Pressed on the matter once more, specifically regarding Jan. 6 rioters receiving taxpayers’ money, Trump again insisted without evidence, “The people were destroyed by dirty cops and by weaponization, many of those people should be compensated.”

Trump got into a tense back-and-forth with Welker over the Jan. 6 rioters, with the president arguing that many of them pleaded guilty because they were “frightened” and that “dirty cops” were at fault for some of the events of that day.

The interview was interrupted multiple times because of rain pattering against the barn roof where it was being held. Trump later abruptly ended it while Welker challenged his unfounded assertion that Democrats were “cheating” in the unresolved primary election in California, where votes are still being counted.

“Let’s call it quits, because I’ve had enough. Thank you, darling. Have a good time,” Trump said as he stood up. “I sat in the rain with you for an hour, on and off in the rain, and I’ve given you enough time,” Trump said after Welker pleaded with him to resume the interview.