President Donald Trump signaled openness to some form of “compensation” for the Jan. 6 rioters he pardoned.
Hours after being sworn into office for a second time, Trump issued sweeping pardons to about 1,500 people charged or convicted in connection with the 2021 Capitol riot he helped incite. The president falsely claimed the 2020 election was rigged against him and held a rally on the day Congress was certifying the election for Joe Biden. When then-Vice President Mike Pence declined to heed Trump’s harebrained advice that he refuse to recognize the results in his ceremonial role as presiding officer, a pro-Trump mob – which Trump had encouraged to come to Washington, D.C., stormed the Capitol.
Trump was criminally charged for his attempt to overturn the election, but the case was dropped after he won a second term.
More than 1,200 people were convicted on various charges ranging from assaulting police officers to simple trespassing. In the four years since, the rioters have become sympathetic figures among some on the right.
On Tuesday, Trump appeared on Newsmax, where Greg Kelly asked him about reparations for the rioters. The host first pointed to a lawsuit against the federal government filed by the family of Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed by a police officer as she attempted to break through a door.
Kelly noted that the Department of Justice is still fighting that lawsuit and asked, “Shouldn’t that be something that can just be settled at this point?”
Trump said he was unaware of the situation and that he would “look into that” because Babbitt “was a really good person.”
“Is there any talk of – because they lost opportunity, they lost income – any kind of compensation fund?” Kelly asked, referring to the rioters in general.
“Well, there’s talk about that,” the president replied. “A lot of the people that are in government now talk about it because a lot of the people in government really like that group of people. They were patriots as far as I was concerned. I talk about them a lot. They were treated very unfairly.”
Watch above via Newsmax.