Politics
Trump Created a $1.8 Billion Fund for Political Victims. Everyone Wants In.
By Mike Harper · May 21, 2026
The Trump administration created a $1.8 billion compensation fund for people it believes were victimized by government “weaponization and lawfare.” The list of people who want a piece of it is longer — and stranger — than anyone anticipated.
Dominic Box spent a year and a half in pretrial detention following the Capitol breach. He was later pardoned by Trump. He cannot find work.
“I can’t even find a job answering the phone at a motorcycle dealership.”
“I can’t find a way to support myself right now. I lost my career. I look forward to financial compensation. I need it. This will be a welcome relief.”
Box is one of the convicted January 6 rioters who told CNN they plan to apply for compensation from the fund, which was created by executive order and is designed to pay people the administration believes were targeted by the Justice Department, the FBI, and other federal agencies for political reasons. The fund covers a sprawling range of potential claimants — not just January 6 defendants but anyone entangled in the Mueller investigation, the Ukraine impeachment inquiry, the various state and federal prosecutions of Trump’s associates, and any other matter the five-member commission — appointed by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche — determines qualifies.
“Anybody can apply.”
He added that claims would be reviewed by the commission he will appoint. When asked directly whether people who assaulted law enforcement officers should receive compensation, neither Blanche nor Vice President JD Vance answered.
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell told CNN he believes his company suffered $400 million in losses from what he describes as government persecution following the 2020 election. He was the most prominent promoter of baseless voter fraud claims after January 6 — his promotion drew advertiser boycotts, defamation lawsuits, and FBI scrutiny. He believes all of it qualifies for compensation.
Tina Peters, the Colorado election official who was convicted of tampering with voting equipment while trying to prove the 2020 election was stolen, is another potential applicant. She told CNN she believes the prosecution against her was politically motivated.
The fund’s breadth — which extends to anyone caught up in any federal investigation the commission determines was politically motivated, going back to at least 2016 — opens the door to a universe of claimants that the administration may not have fully mapped. Former FBI Director James Comey, who has been prosecuted twice by the Trump administration and cleared both times, told CNN on-air that he was joking about filing a claim himself — noting that by the fund’s own logic, his prosecutions qualified as government overreach.
The commission that will decide who gets paid does not yet exist. Blanche said he will appoint its five members. No criteria for evaluating claims have been published. No timeline for distributions has been announced. The $1.8 billion was included in the reconciliation bill currently making its way through Congress — meaning it has not yet been formally appropriated, and its ultimate size could change before any money moves.
Critics, including several Republican senators, have said publicly that the fund raises serious questions about equal justice under law — specifically, whether a government that prosecuted officers whose spines were broken defending the Capitol that day can simultaneously compensate the people who broke them. The administration’s answer, so far, is that anybody can apply and a commission will sort it out.
Dominic Box is waiting for his check. Mike Lindell wants $400 million. OAN’s lawyers are drafting paperwork. And the five-member commission that will decide all of their fates does not yet have its members named.