Many of those convicted of crimes related to January 6 are wondering: just how far will the Department of Justice go to help the people who, in 2021, heeded President Trump’s call to march on the Capitol?
“You’re going to see a lot of action on the J6 hostages,” Trump said soon after being inaugurated for his second term. And nearly all of those who were convicted have received pardons for their actions, save for a few Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, whose sentenced were commuted.
But for some who were prosecuted, mere expungement isn’t enough. They want justice in the form of a cash reward: financial settlements from the Trump administration, awarded by the DOJ.
There are multiple efforts to achieve this. Some January 6ers have their own lawsuits filed against the government in which they’re seeking compensation. The Proud Boys filed one such suit last month. Another effort is led by a lawyer who went to high school with Trump, Peter Ticktin. He’s joined in that by Mark McCloskey, the Missouri personal injury lawyer who achieved instant national-figure status in 2020 for brandishing an assault rifle at Black Lives Matters protestors, and Sidney Powell, the 2020 “Kraken” attorney who pleaded guilty in 2023 to six counts of election interference in Georgia’s election-theft RICO case.
That effort is still gathering clients before filing a formal lawsuit. Ticktin has met with Ed Martin, the ex-acting U.S. Attorney, Phyllis Schlafly-aligned impresario, and current DOJ pardon attorney. Martin spent years advocating for January 6ers before Trump’s second term. Other signs, like the President being Donald Trump and the DOJ suggesting, earlier this year, that it would repay some January 6 defendants for damages they owed have not gone unnoticed.
Attorneys and former January 6 defendants told TPM that Martin’s presence in the DOJ has been a very loud signal that the administration is receptive to their claims. But it was less clear, they said, whether the government would open its coffers to people seeking to cash in on the narrative that, in fact, the January 6 rioters were victims of an elaborate government plot.
Then came the Ashli Babbitt settlement.
According to one January 6 attorney, the outcome of that case “stunned a lot of people.”
Babbitt was shot and killed on January 6 by a Capitol police officer as she broke through a glass door leading to an area where members of Congress were sheltering. Her family sued the government for $30 million in 2024 over claims of wrongful death, negligence, assault, and battery. The Trump administration settled the suit for $4.975 million last month.
“That suit is perceived by many to have been resolved for political reasons,” said the attorney, who TPM granted anonymity to freely discuss his legal strategy. “And so I think people, other January 6 defendants, are thinking, if the politics worked for her, why wouldn’t they work for us?”
Babbitt’s case is unique in a number of ways from those of other January 6 defendants. For one, she is dead. The claims are different, and have less to do with what many January 6 defendants paint as a conspiracy, staged by federal officials, to entrap them in various ways.
The largest scale effort to provide a vehicle for the government to compensate January 6 defendants appears to be the one led by Ticktin and McCloskey. When first revealed by the New York Times in March, the two men said that they intended to file a lawsuit within a month. As of this writing, no suit has been filed.
But Ticktin and McCloskey have both said publicly that they’re now representing around 400 January 6 defendants in the effort. McCloskey told a Missouri radio station on Wednesday that Sidney Powell is also involved in the effort. Powell did not return TPM’s requests for comment.
“He understands what kind of a situation we’re in, what I’m calling a war,” Ticktin said on a podcast last month of Trump’s attitude towards the rioters. “He’s got that mentality.” Ticktin has separately blamed January 6 on the usual cast of characters: the Biden administration, federal informants. But in another podcast appearance earlier this year, he added a unique twist: Ukraine played a role (who else?). “The fact is, we know Ukrainians were involved in the planning of January 6 as well. And if you look at what played out, why the hell not?” Ticktin didn’t return requests for comment.
Ticktin met with Ed Martin in May, reportedly to review pardon applications for Stewart Rhodes and others who received commutations. That effort is apparently separate from the move to get compensation for January 6 defendants.
Treniss J. Evans III is a pardoned January 6 rioter who, according to a witness who spoke with the FBI, took shots of Fireball in Nancy Pelosi’s office. He helped Ticktin arrange the meeting with Martin, and has been active in the movement to seek compensation and pardons for January 6 defendants both through his nonprofit Condemned USA and another group, American Rights Alliance.
Evans told TPM that while the Babbitt case had gotten attention, the legal issues at play were distinct. He explained that he has his own claim for compensation, separate from the one pursued by Ticktin and McCloskey, and that he’s spoken to DOJ and FBI officials about the matter.
“These people have been open-minded and they do listen — I think they’re aware of the wrongdoing,” he said.
It all makes the mind reel: None of these people are victims if you think about what caused this: their decision to take part in storming the Capitol, a move that was aimed at overturning a legitimate election result. As one former January 6 prosecutor told TPM, everyone “wants to cash in, but on what?”
“The only reason that they could cash in is because you have people like Ed Martin who are gonna tip the scales to benefit people who stormed the Capitol,” the person said. “And the only reason it’s defensible in their minds is because they did it in favor of Donald Trump.”
Evans encapsulated this point better than anyone else: the root problem here isn’t the coup attempt. It’s the accountability for it that, now, demands accountability.
“I’m not saying that I didn’t break any laws or do anything wrong by entering the Capitol,” he told TPM. “I’m simply saying that what they did afterward was a much greater injustice.”
JFC on a Graham Cracker with mustard.
They’ll probably get paid, too. If only they had been Cockholster Contractors.
The most corrupt president has destroyed this country. It makes me sick to my stomach.
An Orange County member of Congress (Young Kim) stated in the LA Times today that “I understand some of my constituents are concerned and know how important Medicaid in my community which is why I voted to protect and strengthen Medicaid services for our most vulnerable citizens who truly need it.”
Strenghten Medicaid services for our most vulnerable citizens… means I voted for the bill and I don’t think most people are entitled to Medicaid. “A version of the Republican bill was passed by the House with Kim’s support in the article.” Another liar. Talking out of both sides of her mouth.
Every member of the clergy should ask his or her members if they thought taking away medical care for millions of people is supported by them. It should be a crime or a sin to take away healthcare.
Does anyone defend the government’s actions in this contest?
By “went to high school with Trump” I presume you mean, “was sent to the same military academy for high school kids with anger-management and disciplinary problems.”
This is what we can expect when the inmates are in charge of the asylum, led by the Lunatic in Chief.