The Department of Justice (DoJ) said it may refund money to some Jan. 6 rioters who were charged to cover the estimated $3 million in damages they caused to the Capitol Building.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Dreher wrote in court filings submitted last week that pardoned offenders are not usually entitled to reimbursement for fines and other penalties related to their convictions. However, this might not apply to rioters whose pardons came through as they were appealing their convictions.
The motion centers on the case of rioter Stacy Wade Hager, who was ordered to pay a combined $570 to the courts as part of his four-count misdemeanor conviction. Other rioters convicted on felony charges have been ordered to pay up to $2,000.
Because Hager’s case was indeed under appeal at the time he was pardoned, his conviction was technically “invalidated” by President Trump’s sweeping amnesty, and therefore the government “agrees” that Hager “is entitled to reimbursement of those payments,” wrote Dreher.
While the assistant attorney stressed any grounds for refunds wouldn’t apply to all pardoned rioters, his motion nevertheless comes amid growing signs Trump is warming to the idea of compensating those convicted for participating in the attack.
During an interview with Newsmax earlier in March, the president said there had already been talk about some sort of compensation fund to cover “lost opportunities” and “lost income” as a result of legal proceedings related to the insurrection.
“We have a lot of people, a lot of the people that are in government now talk about it because [we] really like that group of people,” Trump said. “They were patriots as far as I was concerned.”
The nation’s courts ultimately charged nearly 1,600 people, of whom 900 had been convicted by August of last year, over one of the most spectacular displays of political violence on U.S. soil in recent memory.
Damages sustained to the building in the course of the attack included smashed windows, trashed offices and stolen equipment, news outlets reported. At least 174 police officers were also injured, with four who responded to the violence dying by suicide within the ensuing seven months, reported Reuters.
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