Five years after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill insurrection, President Donald Trump and the Republican Party have helped those who participated in the attack avoid responsibility. Now, a group of Democratic lawmakers is trying to ensure that the U.S. government does not financially compensate those who conducted the attack.
After the Babbitt settlement, bills to prevent further Jan. 6 compensation
CBS News reported that Democratic senators have worked to pass legislation to prevent compensating Jan. 6 rioters. Two pieces of legislation have been proposed. One bill, sponsored by California Sen. Alex Padilla and Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, seeks to ban the government from reaching financial settlements with individuals who assaulted police officers. A second bill would prevent the creation of a compensation fund for Jan. 6 participants.
The two bills come in response to actions taken to provide compensation for Jan. 6 rioters. In May, the Justice Department agreed to a $5 million settlement for the family of Ashli Babbitt, the Jan. 6 rioter who was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer as she climbed through a smashed glass panel as part of an angry mob attempting to access a protected area of the Capitol. Despite Officer Michael Byrd being cleared of any wrongdoing by the Justice Department, Trump accused Byrd of “getting away with murder” and supported right-wing reframing of Babbitt as a martyr.
Blocking a reparations fund for Jan. 6 rioters
The settlement with Babbitt’s family establishes a precedent to compensate others who participated in the attack. Attorney Mark McCloskey is among the individuals who’ve promoted financial compensation for those previously tried for Jan. 6 offenses, posting on X, formerly Twitter, “I’m doing everything I can to epidite the establishment of a claims resolution procedure so we can get you back on your feet and get you some real justice.”
Trump and others have even suggested creating a compensation fund as a form of reparations for former Jan. 6 defendants to pay for their legal bills. When Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, asked U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi last year about a Jan. 6 compensation fund, Bondi said she had no involvement in setting one up but would not explicitly rule out supporting the creation of such a fund.
These moves to compensate Jan. 6 rioters are part of a larger strategy by Trump and his allies to downplay the Jan. 6 attacks and distort the reality of what happened, framing the rioters as victims of an overzealous and weaponized justice system. Upon returning to the White House last year, Trump immediately pardoned or commuted the sentences of nearly all of the people who had been convicted of crimes relating to their participation in the Jan. 6 attacks. Trump has also seemingly retaliated against FBI agents who investigated Jan. 6 rioters, part of his larger set of reprisals against the agency.
Trump has already ensured that his supporters no longer have to face the legal consequences of their attack on the U.S. Capitol five years ago. Now, he is among the right-wing voices seeking to use the federal government to pay the rioters. As the shadow of Jan. 6 continues to cast over U.S. politics, Democrats are working to prevent those responsible for the riot from being compensated or even profiting at the expense of American taxpayers.