With tax day having passed just over a month ago, the all-too-common question of what the United States government’s plan for its citizen’s hard earned money is once again circulating online.

On Friday May 22nd, the Trump Administration announced where $1.776 billion of taxpayer’s money will now be directed. The “Anti-Weaponization Fund” will give just under $1.8 billion to those who participated in the January 6th, 2021 riots at the Capitol Building as reparations for the supposed horrible treatment they have faced since.

The January 6th riots were an attempt to halt the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential win over incumbent president Donald Trump. The rid was instigated and led by Trump supporters, although Trump himself continues to claim no connection to the event, calling it a “heinous attack” and saying he was “outraged by the violence, lawlessness, and mayhem.” However, while running for president in 2024, he promised to pardon anyone convicted for crimes committed during the riots. “They were there proud, they were there with love in their heart… And i was a beautiful day,” Trump said at a 2023 CNN Town Hall.

By the fourth anniversary of the riots in 2025, over 1,500 people had been charged with federal crimes, including, but not limited to disorderly conduct, unlawful entry, assault on or interference with law enforcement officers, and seditious conspiracy.

After Trump took office on January 20th, 2025, he pardoned all but 14 of those convicted. Of the remaining 14, while their convictions still stood, Trump commuted their sentences to “time served”, making them eligible for immediate release from prison.

Since taking office, Trump has continued to speak openly about how the sentencing of the January 6th rioters ruined their lives, as well as openly criticizing the Biden administration and claiming they failed the families of those convicted by not offering assistance or aid.

“… this is reimbursing people that were horribly treated,” Trump said in a speech following the announcement of the reparation fund. “It’s anti-weaponization. They’ve been weaponized. They’ve been, in some cases, imprisoned wrongly… their lived have been ruined and they turned out to be right.

None of the 140 Capitol police that were attacked during the riot or the families or the five officers that who were killed following the event are eligible for a payout from the fund.

Two of the officers, Daniel Hodges and Harry Dunn, have already filled a lawsuit with a federal court against the Trump Administration to fight the “Anti-Weaponization Fund”.

“If they get this payout, then they’ll have significant financial resources,” Hodges said. “They have no ethical qualms about it, so what would stop them from carrying out more violence?”

Hodges explained how he and other Capitol police have continued to receive death threats since the riots over five years ago, and he worries that the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” will only provide encouragement and resources for further violence.

The criteria for who will be eligible to claim a payout from the fund is still unclear. However, not everyone is waiting for it to become official before speaking out against it. The progressive non-profit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington called the fund “the most brazen act of self-dealing in the history of the presidency.”

The fund has also been blasted on social media platforms like X, formerly known as Twitter, where posters called it “indefensible” and joked that “everyone is thrilled to see Trump steal $1.8 billion (900,000 food-stamp-person-years) of our tax dollars to give to his criminal friends.”

With the fund less than a week old and already having the promise of several lawsuits being brought against it in the near future, it’s hard to tell if there will ever be any real payouts from it. However, by pardoning those eligible for a payout and creating the fund in the first place, President Donald Trump has made it clear to the rioters and the rest of the country exactly which side he’s on.