President Donald Trump is exploring the possibility of providing reparations to people who were charged or arrested for their involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots.
On Tuesday night, Trump shared on Newsmax that there is “talk” of compensating his supporters.
“There’s a lot of talk about that,” Trump said about compensating the protesters. “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.”
On his first day in office, the president pardoned more than 1,500 defendants and issued 14 commutations to those involved in the Jan. 6 riots.
The following day, the federal Bureau of Prisons released more than 200 people in custody for crimes related to Jan. 6, whom Trump referred to as hostages.
Among those released from prison were Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and Enrique Tarrio, former leader of the Proud Boys. Rhodes was serving an 18-year prison sentence and Tarrio a 22-year prison sentence for their roles in conspiring to block the peaceful transfer of power.
Trump also shared that he was a “big fan” of Ashli Babbitt, a 28-year-old veteran shot and killed by a Capitol police officer.
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“Ashli Babbitt was a really good person who was a big MAGA fan, Trump fan. And she was innocently standing there, they even say, trying to sort of hold back the crowd,” Trump said. “And a man did something to her that was unthinkable when he shot her.”
The officer who shot Babbitt, U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd, was investigated by the Justice Department and cleared of any wrongdoing. However, Trump shared that he would “take a look at it” in determining whether to take action against Byrd.