The pro-Trump rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election now want compensation for what they believe were unfair prosecutions.
A proposal put forward by a lawyer for the rioters could be a major step in attempts to rewrite the history of that day, effectively designating those who stormed the building and fought police as victims deserving of reparations from the government.
On his first day back in the White House, President Donald Trump granted clemency to those who had committed crimes during the Capitol riot. In the subsequent months, he permitted his Department of Justice to dismiss many federal agents and prosecutors who had worked to hold them accountable.
Despite now being free and having those who sought justice for their crimes punished, the rioters now want financial restitution.
The New York Times reports that on Thursday, Mark McCloskey, a lawyer for the rioters, stated during a public social media meeting that he recently met with senior officials at the Justice Department and proposed a plan to establish a special panel that would award financial damages to the rioters — inspired by the appointment of a special master to disburse funds to victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The panel, which McCloskey called a “voluntary nonjudicial resolution committee,” would review rioters’ cases individually, he said, then assign them amounts based on the harms they claimed to have suffered from the federal government.
He would want it to be led by Jeanine Pirro, now in charge of the District of Columbia federal prosecutor’s office that filed charges against the almost 1,600 people who took part in the attack on Congress.
McCloskey first came into the public eye in 2020 when he pointed an AR-15-style rifle at social justice protesters outside his home in St. Louis in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis.
Now, the Missouri lawyer has joined forces with Peter Ticktin, a former classmate and a lawyer with close connections to Trump, and since March has been leading efforts to secure reparations for the rioters, with plans to sue the government.
The original intention was to bring a claim that those prosecuted for attacking Congress had been mistreated by the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Prisons. In May, a settlement of nearly $5 million in a separate case concerning the death of Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot by police during the riot, raised hopes about the future of other cases.
However, Justice Department lawyers have also formally opposed a lawsuit brought by five members of the Proud Boys who were charged with sedition over their roles in the riot.
McCloskey said in the online meeting that there were “significant difficulties” regarding the legal action, particularly relating to his original plan to file cases under the Federal Tort Claims Act — suing the government for injuries caused by federal employees.
Tort cases have a two-year statute of limitations, and it has been almost five years since the Capitol riot.
However, McCloskey assured rioters that Ed Martin, the “Stop the Steal” organizer turned Justice Department “special attorney,” is on their side in their quest for compensation.
Given the unprecedented use of the pardon power by Trump regarding the Capitol riot and the subsequent firings of the Justice Department officials and FBI agents who worked on the cases, the push for compensation shows the rioters are still not entirely satisfied.
Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys, freed by Trump from a 22-year prison term stemming posted a list of demands to the administration in a social media message over the weekend, including a call for compensation for the rioters “for their suffering and that of their families” and the firing of “everyone involved” in cases brought against them.
Four individuals in the mob died on January 6, 2021, including Babbitt; two of these deaths resulted from natural causes, and one was due to an overdose.
Additionally, five officers died in the subsequent days and weeks following the attack, with two of these deaths being suicides.
