The former leader of the Proud Boys, an extremist, far-right group that played a major role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, says he’s “excited” about the announcement of a $1.776 billion fund for people who believe they are victims of the justice system.
Enrique Tarrio told PBS News that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is doing an “amazing job” and that, between his commuted sentence last year and potential compensation under the fund, he feels like he is finally getting the justice he deserves.
Following the Department of Justice announcement of the “anti-weaponization” fund Monday, PBS News spoke with several Jan. 6 defendants, including Tarrio, who had one of the highest-profile convictions in the agency’s large-scale investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.
The fund does not address whether Jan. 6 defendants would be eligible for the fund. Two police officers who defended the Capitol sued Wednesday over the possibility that rioters could benefit, and the concern helped drive Senate Republicans to stall unrelated legislation.
The DOJ gave a memo to Republican senators Thursday that says anyone who was a victim of “lawfare and weaponization” can apply. Claims will be awarded on a case-by-case basis and an applicant’s “personal conduct and character” will be considered, the one-page summary read. Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday that the fund is intended to help those “badly abused by an evil, corrupt, and weaponized Biden Administration.”
Tarrio was convicted by a jury in 2023 of seditious conspiracy, among other charges, after prosecutors said he helped organize the Capitol insurrection. Though Tarrio was not physically in Washington, D.C., that day, prosecutors argued he orchestrated the Proud Boys-led plot, such as hand-selecting “rally boys” prepared to get violent, to breach the building and stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 election win. He received a 22-year sentence.
Tarrio filed a lawsuit in 2025 against the DOJ, claiming the government arrested him and others using insufficient probable cause. That suit sought millions in punitive damages.
Tarrio told PBS News he believes he is owed “somewhere in the mid-tens of millions” of dollars from the fund. Tarrio pointed to time spent in solitary confinement and what he said was FBI meddling in his defense preparation during his trial.
Tarrio also said that while he thinks people who beat up cops that day “should have been arrested, I do believe they should have been prosecuted,” he also believes some Jan. 6 defendants were treated unfairly during the judicial process and deserve compensation from the fund. Alongside Tarrio and other insurrectionists’ commutations, President Donald Trump issued pardons to about 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants who were convicted or charged for their role in the attack.
READ MORE: Why legal experts say Trump’s new ‘anti-weaponization’ fund is unprecedented
As far as the process of applying for the fund, Tarrio said that right now he does not have official answers from anyone at the DOJ on how it will work.
“I just go by Twitter accounts and stuff like that, and we haven’t seen anything,” he said. He hopes it will be a simple online form he can fill out, but added he’s speculating. “I don’t think that this should be complicated.”
He also thinks that other people like Hunter Biden, anti-abortion activists, “Catholics that were surveilled on,” should be eligible, too.
When asked if the money and pardons for the Jan. 6 defendants — and having their crimes wiped away — would encourage this kind of behavior in the future, including another attack on the presidential transition process, Tarrio insisted it wouldn’t. Instead, he suggested, some fund recipients might run for office.
“One thing I think Democrats and liberals have to fear from this fund is that J6ers are very dedicated, and in some cases, I’ve heard like two or three times that they’re going to use it to run for local office for their city council.”
Tarrio said he thinks this distribution of “anti-weaponization” funds will be an easier process than pursuing the tort claims that require tax returns, among other forms, that some Jan. 6 defendants have sought.
