President Donald Trump is coming under criticism after an interview in which he entertained the idea of cash compensation for the rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 in an attempt to overturn the election.
Speaking to Newsmax host Greg Kelly, Trump bragged about giving pardons to some 1,500 rioters, including many convicted of violent crimes such as assaulting police officers.
“These people are incredible people,” Trump said. “They were treated so unfairly, so horribly.”
Kelly asked if there is “any talk” of a compensation fund for the rioters.
Trump didn’t commit to such a plan, but indicated it’s on the table.
“There’s talk about that. We have a lot of people talk about it, a lot of the people that are in the government now talk about it because a lot of the people in government really like that group of people,” Trump said. “They were patriots as far as I was concerned.”
He then switched to bragging about his crowd size that day.
But the notion of paying off the rioters who broke into the Capitol, attempted to block the certification of the election, and in some cases committed acts of assault and vandalism, was too much for his critics to bear.
They fired back on social media:
We Don't Work For Billionaires. We Work For You.
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