Utah man pardoned for Jan. 6 discusses new $1.7B ‘anti-weaponization fund’ from Trump DOJ

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A Utah man who was pardoned for entering the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, alongside rioters is sharing his thoughts about the creation of the “anti-weaponization” fund, intended to compensate people who feel they were wrongfully prosecuted.

The fund was created by the Department of Justice (DOJ) after President Donald Trump reached a settlement with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Trump originally filed the lawsuit against the IRS over the leaking of his tax returns.

The “anti-weaponization” fund will receive $1.776 billion and will be used to compensate those pursuing settlements because they believe they were wrongfully targeted by the government. The DOJ has said that there is no partisan requirement to file a claim and has not specified who the fund is meant for.

Brad Bokowski accepted a plea deal in connection with Jan. 6, 2021, and he was later pardoned by President Trump in 2025. He told ABC4.com, “I think there’s a lot of people who deserve to be reimbursed for their expenses, for all the harms that have happened to them, all the ways that the government tried to destroy, or did, in many cases, their lives.”

Many believe that it will likely be used to compensate people convicted or pardoned for storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Bokoski said that he believes the fund is a positive step, “not only for J6ers, but for others who have experienced similar government attacks throughout their lives.”

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche reportedly resisted demands from Republican lawmakers to limit who the fund could go to. The creation of the fund has been unpopular among members of the president’s own party. Multiple lawsuits have been filed to try to block this fund, including by a former prosecutor and two police officers who were working at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

The creation of the fund isn’t the first time Bokoski has thought about pursuing compensation for what he experienced.

“I’ve been trying to claim money for about a year and a half now,” he said. “I’ve employed two attorneys to file a federal tort claim to recoup damages and expenses. It’s been held up in the FBI awaiting Freedom of Information Act requests that the FBI has been blocking.”

He said that his attorneys will be advising him on how to approach the anti-weaponization fund. Any money he may receive will go toward a retirement, but what he really wants is justice, against people who he described as traitors, like Nancy Pelosi.

“I was put in jail, detained, awaiting my detainment. I never thought I was going to be released, thinking I was going to be another one of those J6ers who would be in jail for years with no hearing in sight,” he said. “So, you have that kind of despair and emotion that’s running through your head, as well as hopefulness that the pardon will have some positive impact on your life, and it has, and then maybe to be compensated for those things.”

He also said that he feels like he was targeted by the Biden DOJ and by the media, and that the prosecution coerced him to accept a plea deal.

“If I didn’t accept it, they were going to transfer the misdemeanors to felonies, and I would be spending how many years in jail for walking in a hallway for four minutes and taking pictures after being welcomed by a police officer who said, and I quote, welcome to the people’s house. Feel free to walk around and take some pictures.”

When it comes to those who assaulted officers at the Capitol on Jan. 6, Bokoski said he hopes they received appropriate punishment. “If the government went beyond that, then they should be compensated for that marginal increase in weaponization there,” he said.

Bokoski was in Washington D.C. on Jan. 6 2021 with his son. They went to attend Trump’s rally, and when Trump told the crowd to go march down to the Capitol, they did.

“My son and I looked at each other, said, hey, you want to go check it out? We looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and said, why not? You know, we’ve flown all this way. So, we walked through the open doorway, took some pictures and left. There was our intent,” he recounted.

The fund will create a commission consisting of give members appointed by the DOJ, with one member chosen “in consultation with congressional leadership,” and they will process claims until Dec. 1, 2028. At this time, it is not entirely clear how the commission will determine who qualifies for compensation. By the end of it, any funds that were not released will return to the federal government.