Trump Voices Support for Compensating Jan. 6 Defendants but Administration Rejects Proposed Fund

President Donald Trump said he supports compensating people charged in the January 6 Capitol events and would pay them the kind of money they deserve if the decision were his alone. The comments came in an interview taped Friday at a farmers' roundtable event in Wisconsin and aired Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press.

Trump told host Kristen Welker that he personally thinks the weaponization fund is a great idea and so do many other Republicans.

You have to get it approved. If they get it approved, that's great. If they don't get it approved, I'd be disappointed," Trump said.

Trump said those prosecuted for January 6 have had their lives destroyed by dirty cops and by weaponization. He argued that many defendants pleaded guilty because they were frightened. "Well, look, it was up to me.

He added that he loves the idea of the fund but would not be inclined to say Jan. 6 defendants should receive taxpayer dollars without seeing the details.

The interview was interrupted multiple times by rain pattering against the barn roof. Trump ended the session while Welker questioned his assertion that Democrats were cheating in California's unresolved primary election. "Let's call it quits, because I've had enough.

Thank you, darling. Have a good time," Trump said. He added that he sat in the rain with Welker for an hour on and off and had given her enough time. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing last week that the administration would not go forward with the Anti-Weaponization Fund.

On Friday, a Department of Justice attorney put in writing that plans for the fund would not move forward. More than 1,580 people were charged criminally in federal court in connection with January 6, according to the Department of Justice. More than 1,000 pleaded guilty.