Will Jan. 6 defendants go from prison to payday?

0:00It's Consider This, where every day we go deep on one big news story. Today, the new anti-weaponization fund from the Trump Department of Justice, a pot of money worth almost$1.8 billion from a settlement between President Trump and the government he leads. Trump officials say anyone who believes they were so-called victims of quote unquote weaponized law enforcement can apply for this taxpayer funded compensation. And that includes hundreds of people who assaulted police at the Capitol on January 6th, 2021. We do have people who were accused of attacking law enforcement officers. That doesn't mean that we're going to completely ignore some of the claims that they're going to make.

0:44Vice President J.D. Vance spoke to reporters from the White House earlier this week. We're going to evaluate these things on a case-by-case basis. And if we think that somebody, whatever they were accused of, if we think that somebody was unfairly prosecuted and deserves just compensation, then that's what this fund is going to exist to provide. It's just going to correct a wrong, and I think that's a good thing. But Democrats, and a growing number of Republicans in Congress, disagree. I think it's stupid on stilts. Tom Tillis is a Republican senator from North Carolina. He spoke to Spectrum News at the Capitol.

1:18Your taxpayer dollars and my taxpayer dollars could potentially compensate someone who assaulted a police officer, admitted their guilt, got convicted, got pardoned, and now we're going to pay them for that? Consider this. January 6th, defendants may go from prison to a payday. Can the police officers who defended the Capitol stop them? From NPR, I'm Scott Detrow.

1:47We flush a lot of things down the toilet. You know, the obvious ones. But drugs, like cocaine, are also going down the drain and into our waterways. That's changing the animals that live in it. It's definitely present in most ecosystems on Earth now, unfortunately. We're only sort of really starting to scratch the surface into understanding the potential consequences of that. Forget cocaine bear. Learn about cocaine salmon on Shortwave, in the NPR app, or wherever you get your podcasts.

2:17It's Consider This from NPR. The Trump administration says that January 6th defendants who assaulted police may be eligible for compensation. So the Justice Department is rolling out its$1.8 billion, quote, anti-weaponization fund. Rioters already pardoned are already celebrating. But two of the 140 cops who were injured that day at the Capitol are suing to prevent the payouts. NPR investigative correspondent Tom Dreisbach broke it all down for us. D.C. police officer Daniel Hodges was repeatedly assaulted on January 6th. Rioters punched, kicked and hit him with a stolen police baton and crushed him inside a doorframe.

2:59Blood dripped out of his mouth as he cried for help. Now, the Trump administration says that the people convicted of assaulting him may not just deserve pardons. They can also apply for taxpayer funds from the new anti-weaponization fund. Hodges calls that a travesty. By any reasonable metric, it doesn't make any sense. Why would you pay people who attacked the police at the Capitol of the United States who tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power? Hodges and another police officer who defended the Capitol, Harry Dunn, are now suing the federal government to try to stop payouts to the rioters.

3:35Pardons already restored many of the rioters' gun rights. Now they may get money, too. If they get this payout, then they'll have significant financial resources and they have no ethical qualms about it. So what would stop them from carrying out any more violence? Hodges and Dunn are represented in the lawsuit by Brendan Ballew. He's a former federal prosecutor who worked on January 6th cases, and he now leads a group called the Public Integrity Project. I think it might be the most corrupt single action in presidential history, or is certainly up there. At the same time, former January 6th defendants are getting their applications ready, like Jake Lang.

4:15Here's how he answered the phone when I called him. Jake Lang's office, America's newest billionaire. Back on January 6th, he attacked police officers with a baseball bat. This is our house. This is our house. Lang argues he was justified because he believes the 2020 election was stolen. And since Trump released him from jail, he's become known as a white power activist and provocateur, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic. He's been caught on camera shouting the N-word. Lang was exaggerating about becoming a billionaire, but he does expect January 6th defendants to get big checks. The misdemeanor cases should be looking to receive several hundred thousand dollars, and some of the cases like mine may be looking at upwards of a million dollars.

4:59Lang says the money sends a message. If you sacrifice for your country, if you do the right thing in the face of evil, you will be rewarded for your bravery, for your patriotism, for your love of your country. And that's the message President Trump is sending. That money could also go toward his new legal bills. Lange is currently facing criminal charges in both Minnesota for alleged property damage and Washington, D.C. for allegedly threatening a police officer. He says he did nothing wrong. Trump administration officials say they are not ruling out payments to people like Lange, people charged or convicted of assaulting police.

5:33And CNN asked acting attorney general Todd Blanche about that. Would you be OK with people who were convicted of hurting police getting taxpayer money? Just to be clear, people that hurt police get money all the time. Blanche said the government pays legal settlements if someone's rights were violated. And even though violence against police is, quote, abhorrent, he said they'll look case by case. Tom Dreisbach, NPR News. This episode was produced by Monica Estatieva and Alejandra Marquez-Hanze with audio engineering by Tiffany Vera Castro. It was edited by Barry Hardiman and Courtney Dorning.

6:09Our executive producer is Sammy Yenigan. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Scott Detrow. This week on Newsmakers, Dana White, the head of the UFC. We're at a place where people can't even talk anymore. And if they find out that I'm friends with the president, I'm a MAGA piece of s**t. I mean, I'm talking to NPR right now, right? I talk to everybody. A dialogue with Dana White about politics, culture, and masculinity on NPR's Newsmakers. Listen or watch wherever you get your podcasts.