A leader of “proud boys” who burned a BLM banner wants $5 million from Trump’s secret fund
The former head of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, who was given a 22-year sentence for a seditious plot over January 6, wants a piece of Trump’s $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund. To Reuters, Tarrio said he was going to apply and thought he was owed between $2 million and $5 million. “I’m not wanting,” he said. It was a difficult time in my life, though.
Enrique Tarrio pleaded guilty to destruction of property in 2021 for stealing a Black Lives Matter banner from Asbury United Methodist Church, a famous Black church in Washington, D.C., dousing it in lighter fluid, and setting it on fire. He told everyone on social media. He smiled for the camera. Judge said Tarrio “clearly, intentionally, and proudly crossed the line from peaceful assembly and protest to conduct that was dangerous and could have been violent.”
He now wants people to send him money.
Trump released Tarrio and more than 1,500 other people on January 6, 2025. He spent 34 months of his 22-year sentence in prison, which was the longest term ever given to a Capitol attack suspect. His lawyer, Peter Ticktin, who also helps more than 400 people accused on January 6, says the fund might not even be big enough. People reportedly lost multimillion-dollar businesses during their incarceration.
Also waiting is Mike Lindell. CNN talked to the CEO of MyPillow, who is against the 2020 election, and he said he thinks his company lost $400 million because the government used its technology to make weapons. He called the fund Trump’s way of “looking out for these people who were attacked.” A former executive at Dominion Voting Systems has already sued Lindell for slander and been ordered to pay $2.3 million in damages. Lawsuits against Dominion and Smartmatic are still being processed.
Trump’s Department of Justice settled Trump’s $10 billion case against the IRS on Monday, which made the fund possible. Todd Blanche, who is acting attorney general and used to be Trump’s criminal defense lawyer, will choose four of the five commission members who decide who gets paid. No one can appeal the rulings. Payouts do not have to be made public under the deal. Claim forms will be taken care of until December 2028, which is one month before Trump leaves office.
Blanche told a Senate meeting that “anyone in this country can apply,” which meant that Proud Boys or Oath Keepers who had been found guilty of attacking Capitol Police officers could get the money. Vice President JD Vance did not rule it out.
Two officers, Harry Dunn and Daniel Hodges, who guarded the Capitol on January 6, have already sued to end the fund. They say that the 14th Amendment doesn’t allow the US to pay “any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection.”
Trump told the news media that the $1.77 billion might be too small. “These are peanuts,” he told her.
