Judge Freezes Anti-weaponization Fund as Rioters Seek Payouts

anti-weaponization fund – Even as a federal judge in Virginia has frozen the formation of President Donald Trump’s nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” settlement fund, convicted Capitol rioters and their supporters are already positioning themselves to claim payouts—sparking backl

For David Johnston, the message is blunt: the narrative is changing, and he wants fellow “J6ers” to be ready to cash in.

Johnston—now a licensed attorney who illegally entered the Capitol with a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters on Jan. 6. 2021—has spent the past more than five years watching convictions. pardons. and courtroom battles reshape how people talk about that day. In a video he posted to social media. the South Carolina man said. “I think the narrative is changing” about how the history of that day is being told. adding. “I think good things are happening for us.”.

Johnston says he’s offering to help other rioters apply for payouts from the Trump administration’s new nearly $1.8 billion fund—valued at $1.776 billion—that is meant to compensate people who argue they were victims of a “weaponized government.” He would take a 10% cut of any award. capped at $5. 000 apiece.

The pitch is taking shape during a tense moment for the fund itself. A bipartisan backlash to the settlement and a legal roadblock have not stopped some people from talking about claims—even though the government has not established an application process and a judge has frozen the fund’s formation. at least temporarily.

Critics say the settlement is a way for Trump and his allies to rewrite Jan. 6 retroactively, justify the mob’s assault on the Capitol, and reward some of the president’s most loyal followers with taxpayer money.

Jason Riddle, a military veteran from New Hampshire, rejected the idea of taking a pardon or seeking compensation. Riddle. who was sentenced to 90 days behind bars after pleading guilty to riot charges. said it would be “ridiculous” for him—or any other Jan. 6 rioter—to receive government compensation. “I’d love money, but I can’t accept that. That would bother me for the rest of my life,” he said. “We weren’t innocently persecuted just because of who we are or who we vote for. We were persecuted for committing criminal behavior in the Capitol of the United States.”.

Others aren’t sharing that hesitation.

A Florida man who posed for photos with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s podium argued on social media that he deserves to be compensated for the cost of his infamy. A rioter from New Jersey. described by prosecutors as a Nazi sympathizer. hailed the fund as “good news not just for J6ers but all victims of weaponization.” A Texas man who received a seven-year prison sentence for storming the Capitol with a metal tomahawk celebrated the fund as “payback” for “victims of Biden’s tyranny. ” referring to Democratic President Joe Biden.

Oregon resident Pamela Hemphill, sentenced to 60 days in jail for her conviction, also rejected a pardon from Trump. But she has drafted a written claim for compensation from the fund. Unlike many rioters who say they were targeted by a weaponized government led by Democrats. Hemphill blames Trump for her legal troubles. Her claims letter says she is seeking $5 million in compensation.

In a telephone interview, Hemphill said: “I wouldn’t have been through all of this if Trump hadn’t lied about the election being stolen.” She added, “It’s a direct result of his lies that I was even there that day.”

While the public talk is accelerating, the legal ground under the fund remains unstable.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said he has not ruled out the possibility that people convicted of Capitol riot-related crimes could apply for payments. Blanche told The Associated Press on Thursday that there are no limits on who can apply. but he said the fund’s five commissioners—still unnamed—will decide who should be compensated and why. He pointed to factors such as “what the person did, his sentence, how much time he was in jail.”.

“That’s up to the commissioners,” Blanche told the outlet when asked about his position on whether violent Jan. 6 defendants should be eligible for payments. He added that defining eligibility is “very fact-intensive. ” and said “Me sitting here and talking in hypotheticals is something that I don’t think is fair to the process.”.

It remains unclear whether Congress would block payments to Jan. 6 defendants. Senate Republicans have said they want to place parameters on the fund as part of a Department of Homeland Security spending bill. The group abruptly left town earlier this month after a tense meeting with Blanche and will return on Monday with the situation unresolved.

On top of the political fight, a federal judge in Virginia has frozen the fund’s establishment and temporarily blocked any processing or paying of claims. The judge issued that ruling on Friday in one of at least three lawsuits challenging the fund.

Brendan Ballou, a former prosecutor who tried several Jan. 6 cases before leaving the Department of Justice last year. sued on behalf of two police officers who helped defend the Capitol from the mob. Ballou argued the fund is part of a broader Trump campaign to undermine democratic institutions and rewrite the history of Jan. 6.

“And if the president is successful in that effort, if he’s able to get people to either forget or condone that day, he knows that it can get people to accept any attack on democracy,” Ballou said.

For many convicted rioters, Trump’s decision to recast Jan. 6 as something closer to a peaceful protest appears to have lowered the emotional stakes and raised expectations of reward. Nearly 1,600 people were charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. More than 1,200 were convicted and sentenced before Trump issued mass pardons and ordered the dismissal of all pending Jan. 6 cases.

Trump also freed far-right extremist group members who were imprisoned for plotting to attack the Capitol to keep Trump in office after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Biden.

That shift is reflected in the way some “J6” supporters are now talking about vengeance, not accountability.

Meshawn Maddock—who was charged as being a fake elector for Trump in Michigan before a judge dismissed the case last year—said she and her husband. state Rep. Matt Maddock, “absolutely” plan on making a claim. She said she believes the fund’s use of taxpayer money is justified because it “paid for the prosecution and investigation of the years that I was being hunted down.” Maddock said: “I want vengeance and I want retribution.”.

Johnston. too. is straddling two versions of the same story: his eagerness to help other rioters with claims contrasts with the remorse he expressed when he was sentenced in 2022. At that time. Johnston apologized for his “terrible lapse in judgment” before a judge sentenced him to three weeks in jail and three months of home detention. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor trespassing charge. “It was a dumb. dumb thing to do. ” Johnston told the judge. adding. “I am 100% responsible for what I did that day.”.

Now, as the legal freeze holds and the application process is still not set, Johnston is pushing ahead with a different message—one built around access, opportunity, and a belief that the new fund will shift the terms of remembrance.

For the people who have already started drafting claims, posting videos, and talking about how much money they might receive, the timing is the point: the fight over whether the fund can pay is happening at the same moment they are trying to position themselves to be paid.

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