Another reason Jan. 6 thugs shouldn't be paid: $2.7 billion in Capitol repairs [View all]

[allegorical oracle]

(in case you missed it in March)

Washington, D.C. (March 24, 2025)— Today, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to Thomas E. Austin, the Architect of the Capitol, requesting he make clear to the American taxpayers how much they are being forced to pay to repair the damages caused by January 6th Capitol Attack rioters.

...“The total cost of the insurrection to the taxpayers is estimated to be $2.7 billion, and that does not account for the lives lost due to the violence that day. Thanks to President Trump’s reckless pardons, convicted rioters can not only walk freely, but they also are no longer required to pay their court-ordered restitutions, much of which was owed directly to your office.”

Restitution was “one of the most common sentences handed down” to January 6th insurrectionists, but offenders were slow to repay their obligations, and taxpayers were “far from being made whole.” A June 2024 CBS News investigation found that only a small fraction—$437,000, which is just 15%—of the nearly $3 million owed in restitution by Jan. 6 offenders for the damage they inflicted on the Capitol had been repaid in the years since the attack.

https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov/news/press-releases/president-trumps-pardons-stick-taxpayers-bill-january-6-attack-oversight