The U.S. Department of Justice removed hundreds of online records tied to Jan. 6 Capitol riot prosecutions this week as the Trump administration simultaneously advanced a controversial $1.776 billion compensation fund that could allow pardoned rioters to seek taxpayer-funded payouts.
The deletions, confirmed Friday by the department's own Rapid Response account on X, erased large portions of a public database documenting prosecutions stemming from the 6 January 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The move immediately triggered bipartisan criticism and intensified legal challenges already forming around the administration's new "Anti-Weaponization Fund."
"Nothing 'quiet' about it," the DOJ Rapid Response account posted online. "We are proud to reverse the DOJ's weaponisation under the Biden administration."
"This includes stripping DOJ's website of partisan propaganda," the statement added.
The purge reportedly included press releases involving defendants accused or convicted of violent offenses, including one Jan. 6 rioter who faced an active child solicitation case after receiving clemency from President Donald Trump earlier this year.
Reporting surrounding the deleted records pointed to Andrew Taake, a Houston man sentenced federally for assaulting Capitol Police officers with bear spray and a whip-like weapon during the riot. Taake was pardoned in January 2025 before later being arrested in Texas on a 2016 felony charge involving online solicitation of a minor.
Sean Teare confirmed Taake's arrest earlier this year.
"We would like to thank the coordinated efforts of our office's Fugitive Apprehension Section, Leon County Sheriff's Office, and Texas Department of Public Safety for their diligence in getting this suspected child predator back into custody," Teare said.
The DOJ's sweeping deletion effort arrived days after the administration formally announced the creation of the Anti-Weaponization Fund, a program designed to compensate individuals officials claim were politically targeted by the federal government.
The fund was established through a broader settlement tied to Trump's lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over leaked tax records. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the program would support those who "suffered weaponisation and lawfare."
Vice President JD Vance declined to exclude Jan. 6 rioters from eligibility, telling reporters applications would be reviewed on a "case-by-case basis."
That position quickly fractured Republican support on Capitol Hill.
Mitch McConnell criticized the proposal sharply, saying: "So, the nation's top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops? Utterly stupid, morally wrong."
Katie Britt also opposed compensation for rioters who assaulted police officers during the Capitol attack.
The controversy has already produced multiple federal lawsuits. Former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police officer Daniel Hodges filed legal action arguing the fund would "directly finance the violent operations of rioters, paramilitaries, and their supporters."
Meanwhile, watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington described the initiative in court filings as "a jaw-dropping act of presidential corruption."
The broader political fight has revived scrutiny over Trump's mass clemency order issued on his first day back in office, when he pardoned or commuted sentences for roughly 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants.
Since then, several pardoned rioters have faced unrelated criminal accusations, including child exploitation and molestation cases, according to court records cited in reporting surrounding the DOJ deletions.
Former DOJ official Ed Martin, who previously led the department's "weaponisation" working group, openly defended the idea of compensating Jan. 6 defendants.
"You're damn right I want to pay J6ers," Martin said during a podcast appearance earlier this year. "If you got wronged by the government, then you should be made right."
