Ed Martin has been one of the biggest supporters of Jan. 6 defendants in the Trump administration. The conservative activist called for “die-hard true Americans” to work until their “last breath” to “stop the steal” of the 2020 presidential election in a speech at the Capitol on the eve of Jan. 6, 2021.
Martin got to know Trump when he hosted fundraisers for Capitol siege defendants on Trump properties. Martin was then named interim top federal prosecutor in the District of Columbia, where he oversaw the dismissal of hundreds of Jan. 6 cases and the firing or demotions of dozens of prosecutors who worked on the case.
It was his support for the “J6ers” that cost him the backing of Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who blocked Martin’s confirmation to hold the post permanently.
He told a conservative podcaster that Tillis asked him if he favored “reparations” for Jan. 6 rioters. “We should do it, we shouldn’t be afraid,” Martin said in the May 2025 interview. “You’re damn right I want to pay J6ers. If you got wronged by the government, then you should be made right. That’s America.”
After the fund was announced Monday, Martin praised the decision in an online post.
“To the survivors of political weaponization: The lesson of the last few days is to never stop fighting. Never stand down, never disarm, and follow the lead of President Trump who never stops fighting,” he posted on X.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, said that anyone may apply to receive a payout, though decisions on who or how much they receive will be made by a commission made up of five members; four chosen by Blanche, and one chosen by Blanche in consultation with Congress. Trump can remove anyone he chooses. Justice officials did not say whether Martin would be one of them.
Blanche said there was a broad lane for anyone to apply who felt they were the victims of a weaponized government.
“So whether you’re Hunter Biden, or whether you’re another individual who believed they were a victim of weaponization, they can all apply,” he said, referring to the son of former President Joe Biden who was convicted of gun charges in a case he decried as political.
Applying doesn’t mean a guarantee of money, and Blanche insisted that Jan. 6 rioters weren’t automatically going to be paid out.
“Does it mean they’re going to get money? No,” he said. “It just means they are allowed to apply.”
That’s not how rioters see it.
Thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in a failed effort to stop the certification of Biden’s win. More than 140 police officers were injured in the melee and millions of dollars in damage was done. Five people died, including Jan. 6 rioter Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed as she jumped through a broken window leading to the House Speaker’s Lobby. The Trump administration settled with her estate last year.
Vice President JD Vance said Tuesday the requests would be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, including possibly those accused of harming police.
“We’re trying to compensate people where the book was thrown at them, they were mistreated by the legal system,” Vance said.
The president has described the rioters as peaceful protesters. During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump began to suggest he would pardon some of the 1,500 people charged by the Justice Department in the largest single prosecution in the department’s history.
On his first day in office, Trump pardoned the majority, while erasing punishments for a handful of others.
There was already a growing legal effort to win civil settlements, but until news of the fund was made public, the Justice Department had been defending Jan. 6-related lawsuits. It’s not clear whether those suits will still be defended.
It may not matter. Two lawyers who were involved with the legal effort and say they represent more than 400 Jan. 6 participants said Tuesday that they expected their clients to apply through the fund, rather than continue with litigation.
Martin has been a critical player in the effort, they said. Even after he was pushed out as head of the “weaponization working group,” Martin has maintained influence in the Trump administration. He’s frequently seen at the White House, and continues in the role of U.S. pardon attorney, advising the president on clemency actions.
“Ed’s a real trouper for us,” said one of the Jan. 6 lawyers, Mark McCloskey, a St. Louis-based attorney behind one of the legal efforts. McCloskey and another lawyer, Peter Ticktin, who attended the New York Military Academy with the president, said they had been lobbying the White House for payouts on behalf of their clients.
In an interview after Monday’s announcement, McCloskey said he was “pretty darn excited” about the fund, calling it “very similar” to what they had been suggesting.
“It’s a program that we’ve been lobbying for for the past 13, 14 months, and I couldn’t be happier that it’s finally coming to fruition,” McCloskey said.
“It was kind of shocking to me … with all the other things going on, that he would do this right now,” McCloskey said. “I thought his mind would be occupied elsewhere, but I’m very pleased that he paid attention.”
Ticktin, who had criticized Blanche for not taking action for the Jan. 6 defendants sooner, credited Trump with pushing forward with the fund.
“We’re moving in the direction that the president had originally wanted to go,” Ticktin said. “For some reason it wasn’t happening in the DOJ under Todd Blanche, and now it is happening under Todd Blanche, I think because he’s looking for the position of attorney general, so now he has to show that he can perform.”
Blanche has repeatedly denied that he’s auditioning for the job, but has said it would be an honor to be nominated.
The news of the fund, which is expected to be challenged in court, drew immediate scrutiny from Democrats, who described it as a slush fund for Trump allies, and from some Republicans.
“Not a big fan,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Tuesday. “I’m not exactly sure how they would use it … But yeah, I don’t see a purpose for that.”
Skye Perryman, the president and CEO of Democracy Forward, a national legal group formed in the wake of the 2016 presidential election, said there was no legal authority for it. The group on has demanded Trump administration officials preserve their internal communications over the decision, a sign of an upcoming legal challenge.
Unlike a civil lawsuit, where a federal judge adjudicates claims, evidence is gathered and legal arguments are made in open court, the Justice Department’s fund will have no other oversight aside from the commissioners and Justice Department. There will be little ability to scrutinize how the taxpayer money is spent or to whom the money is awarded.
Last year, one Jan. 6 defendant, Andrew Paul Johnson, posted online that he was expecting “restitution” for Jan. 6 defendants. Months later, after he was arrested on charges of child molestation, law enforcement officials said Johnson tried to bribe a victim with the money he expected to get from the Trump administration.
At the Senate hearing on Tuesday, Blanche tried to slough off any knowledge that Jan. 6 rioters had been seeking what they have called reparations, and said the fund would be doled out on a “case-by-case basis.” But he would not say whether rioters would not be allowed to partake.
“You’re asking me to speculate on the possibility of something,” he told lawmakers.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., exasperated, asked whether Blanche could say that Johnson, who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison earlier this year, would be barred from receiving money from the fund.
Blanche said he found the details of the case “disgusting.”
But he wouldn’t say whether Johnson was eligible for money.
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