CREW suit -- is the Trump administration using taxpayer dollars to compensate people pardoned for their role in January 6th?
- Sat, Sep 12 2026 at 8:56 AM
Mark, is the Trump administration using taxpayer dollars to compensate people pardoned for their role in January 6th?
Americans deserve to know.
That’s why we’re suing the DOJ for failing to respond to our requests seeking records about Federal Tort Claims Act claims filed by individuals who received a pardon or commutation from President Trump, including January 6th defendants.
Within hours of his second inauguration, Trump granted clemency to over 1,500 people who were charged or convicted for their role in the violent January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Since then, hundreds of January 6th defendants have filed FTCA administrative claims with the DOJ, seeking millions of dollars in restitution for alleged wrongdoings related to their prosecution, and at least ten have sued the government for damages.
One attorney representing January 6th defendants has said most of his clients are seeking between $1 million and $10 million each.
Mark, we filed FOIA requests to get answers. But the DOJ didn’t provide the records. It didn’t provide a timely response, either. So we’re taking them to court.Trump has long expressed his interest in compensating January 6th defendants.
In May 2026, he attempted to do so by executing a collusive “settlement” in Trump v. IRS that created a slush fund to funnel $1.776 billion in taxpayer dollars from the Treasury Department’s Judgment Fund to purported victims of government “weaponization.”
A federal judge has since paused the fund. But January 6th defendants are still seeking to collect monetary damages from the federal government, including through the FTCA process.
The Trump administration and attorneys representing January 6th defendants have also continued to assure allies that plans for payouts remain on track.
Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward responded to a post from the late-Senator Lindsey Graham about compensating January 6th defendants through the FTCA, writing, “We’re on it.”
Peter Ticktin, an attorney representing more than 400 January 6th defendants, said he was “very optimistic” that the Trump administration would be receptive to his claims.
Trump oversees the DOJ and has appointed its senior leadership, including the individuals charged with reviewing and potentially approving FTCA claims submitted by January 6th defendants.
Given Trump’s influence on the DOJ, this calls into question the agency’s ability to evaluate these claims impartially.
In November 2025, we submitted a FOIA request to the DOJ’s Civil Division seeking records on the agency’s processing of FTCA claims filed by January 6th defendants.
In June 2026, CREW submitted supplemental FOIA requests to the division, as well as the Office of the Associate Attorney General, seeking records about DOJ communications with January 6th defendants or their representatives.
We have not received a timely determination on our requests. So we’re suing. We’re asking the court to order the DOJ to process CREW’s FOIA request expeditiously, preserve all records potentially responsive to CREW’s requests and disclose all non-exempt responsive records.
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