[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 87 (Thursday, May 21, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2435-S2436]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MORNING BUSINESS--Continued
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Armstrong). The Senator from California.
Unanimous Consent Request--S. 3582
Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, this past January on the fifth
anniversary of the January 6 insurrection, I introduced a bill called
the No Rewards for January 6 Rioters Act because, as we know, one of
the first things Donald Trump did when he returned to office was to
pardon every person convicted of crimes connected to the January 6
insurrection in 2021.
That is right, not just those accused of crimes, those convicted in a
court of law by a jury of their peers. But for Donald Trump, that abuse
of the Constitution's pardon powers was just the beginning. And since
then there has been a concerted effort to keep going even further, to
not only try to rewrite the history of that awful day, but to raid
taxpayer funds to actually reward those who ransacked the Capitol,
those who assaulted law enforcement officers, who called for the
hanging of Vice President Pence along with Members of Congress, and
those who tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power.
And so, sadly, it was not exactly surprising when, earlier this week,
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced a corrupt settlement
creating a special $1.8 billion slush fund for Donald Trump to reward
his supporters, including the perpetrators of the January 6 attacks.
And January 6ers being able to receive money from this fund isn't
some loophole or unintended consequence. Let me cite a few people. Ed
Martin the Department of Justice pardon attorney whose nomination to be
U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia was rejected by the Senate,
that Ed Martin, made it clear that this fund's explicit purpose
publicly declaring last year that ``you're damn right I want to pay
J6ers.'' That is Ed Martin.
The leader of the Proud Boys says he expects a $2 to $5 million
payout. Another January 6 convict told CNN he plans to claim $30
million from the public treasury. And one other stated ``[A]ll January
6ers will apply for restitution'' from the Department of Justice's
funds. ``All of us . . . it's all over Twitter [and] our group chats.''
So to be clear, ``all of us'' he means includes the many attackers
who have not just been convicted of crimes related to January 6 but
even after they have been pardoned by the President have been convicted
of additional serious crimes, including one man who tried to bribe a
child who he sexually abused to stay quiet with the promise of this
exact kind of payout.
Now, the American people have seen a lot of egregious things since
Donald Trump first came down that golden escalator in Trump Tower to
announce he was running for President, but never--never--have we
witnessed something this brazenly corrupt, an American President
effectively suing and negotiating with himself to create a taxpayer-
funded slush fund to funnel taxpayer dollars to his friends and allies.
This cannot be allowed to stand, colleagues.
Now, I'm encouraged to hear some of my Republican colleagues agreeing
with me, beginning with Majority Leader Thune who said he is ``not a
big fan'' of this proposal.
Another Republican colleague saying ``People are concerned about
making their own ends meet, not about putting a slush fund together
without a legal precedent. We're a nation of laws. If there needs to be
a settlement, let's consider it and Congress should come together and
decide upon that.''
A third Republican Senator said ``I've never heard of someone
negotiating with themselves and making a plea bargain with themselves,
so I think there's no precedent for it.''
Finally, former Vice President Pence himself has said ``It would be
my hope that anyone who engaged in violence against law enforcement or
at the Capitol building would never be rewarded with taxpayers'
money.''
Colleagues, this situation is so outlandish. Some might say it is
laughable, but it is not. What it is: it is urgent and it is dangerous.
Because if the Republican majorities in Congress, both in the Senate
and the House, let this happen, then in less than 60 days, $1.8 billion
will be transferred from the judgment fund to this new slush fund,
which Congress would have no control over and no oversight over.
Senate Democrats saw this coming months ago, but the time to stop it
is now before it is too late, which is why today I am bringing up my No
Rewards for January 6 Rioters Act. Let's stand up for congressional
oversight as a unified Senate. Let's pass this bill and prevent
corruption payouts before they happen.
Mr. President, and so I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on
the Judiciary be discharged and the Senate proceed to the immediate
consideration of S. 3582. I further ask consent the bill be considered
read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be
considered made and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
The Senator from Alabama.
Mr. TUBERVILLE. Mr. President, reserving the right to object.
January 6, 2021 was my first day here on the job in the U.S. Senate.
Let's be clear about what happened that day. Let's go back and look at
it. Democrats and the deep state, they hated Donald Trump so much that
they orchestrated a coup against our government. Let me explain this.
It first started with the tampering of the 2020 Presidential election
results to oust President Trump and to install the woke globalists'
favorite Joe Biden.
[[Page S2436]]
As a result, great American patriots gathered in Washington to
peacefully protest the illegal tampering of the 2020 Presidential
election.
When the leader of the Democratic Party at the time Speaker Nancy
Pelosi and the deep state learned that Trump supporters--and we all
knew it--were headed to Washington, DC, to peacefully protest the
fraudulent 2020 Presidential election results, they saw a great
opportunity.
Speaker Pelosi spearheaded the true January 6 insurrection. This has
all been proven to be true. Everybody knows it. She said it on tape.
She admitted the responsibility for massive security failures that day.
The deep state infiltrated the crowd with antifa and intelligence
community members who would instigate trouble and massive chaos.
The FBI has confirmed that there were 274 FBI agents in plain clothes
at the Capitol here that day.
Then Speaker Pelosi set up Capitol Police to fail by refusing to
bring the National Guard in as backup; she admitted that. And then, of
course, Democrats placed all the blame on President Trump and
Republicans. I can remember it vividly that night, about midnight, we
all took the blame here. After we came back that night, the Democrats
called all the Republicans in this room everything that you can
imagine, here on this floor. It was clear that they were planning that
day that they were going after President Trump.
But the Democrats' plan to destroy President Trump and his supporters
didn't end that day on January 6; for the next 4 years, President Biden
and the Democrats did everything they could to arrest, harass,
bankrupt, deplatform, and even tried to kill the former President of
the United States Donald Trump, not to mention the Biden DOJ abusing
their power by wasting almost $3 billion in taxpayer funds to go after
innocent--innocent--Trump supporters, fraudulently imprisoning them to
intimidate their political opponents and the greater MAGA movement.
Hundreds, and I mean hundreds of innocent patriotic Americans sat
behind bars for the past 5 years over this made-up witch hunt. Now,
there were some guilty, but a huge number of them were vastly innocent.
They even arrested grandmas for making phone calls on the Capitol
steps, and the only person who died that day on January 6 was Ashli
Babbitt an unarmed Air Force veteran who was shot that day in this very
building. Ashli Babbitt was wrongfully killed on January 6, 2021. The
Federal Government admitted it, and they actually paid money to her
family, paid money. In the legal settlement they paid money.
Lives were ruined. Families were torn apart, careers were destroyed,
all because lunatics on the left in our country would not let it go,
and anyone who was involved in it was arrested.
So before we quickly try to pass a bill with a nice-sounding title,
we ought to read what it actually does. Democrats claim this bill is
about stopping so-called rewards for January 6 rioters, but in reality,
the legislation says if the Federal Government prosecuted you, Congress
can't even ask if the prosecution was fair, if the sentence was
appropriate, if the evidence was handled properly, if detention
conditions were lawful, or whether the government threw the book at you
because you were a supporter of a political opponent. You can't even
ask that.
This bill treats prosecution--prosecution--as proof, and that is not
how American justice works. That is not how our justice system works.
Thankfully, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and the Trump
Department of Justice established a standard--a standard--and lawful
process to hear from American citizens who suffered lawfare or
weaponization under the Biden administration. If they were wronged, the
Trump administration will provide compensation from the Anti-
Weaponization Fund. But if S. 3582 is passed, it would eliminate that
process for American-loving Trump supporters who were wrongfully
convicted before their claims are even reviewed.
In the future, the Federal Government--because of this bill--would be
empowered to target a group of people, prosecute them, and make sure
they never receive relief no matter what the facts. And there were some
bad things that went on.
Radical Democrats and the deep-state folks do not like this country,
and they dislike it so much--the way it is run--that they will do
whatever it takes to weaponize our judicial system against anyone who
opposes their globalist agenda. That is why I will not consent to this
bill that treats prosecution as proof and blocks individualized review.
That is not how this country works.
For that reason, I object.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
The Senator from California.
Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, a couple of days ago, I had the
pleasure--not just the honor but the pleasure--of welcoming a group of
students from Southern California here to the Capitol. As so many
schools from across the country do, it is sometimes an annual trip to
come see not just a symbol of democracy but literally the home of
Congress, where democracy is in action. These young students are smart.
They are keeping up with the news to know what is going on in their
communities and in their State and in our Nation.
Knowing that sometimes our--small ``d''--democratic institutions are
being challenged, are being stress-tested, as they are today, people
can be discouraged, and part of our job, I think, is to have them not
lose faith in our system. It is not always running perfectly, but it is
resilient.
We are close to celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration
of Independence, and we have learned both from the steps forward our
country has taken to be a more perfect Union and from some of the less
proud moments of our Nation's history, where we tend to always come out
a little bit stronger. And that comes to mind, it comes to the heart of
this moment after hearing once again these conspiracies and these lies
from Members of the Senate who should know better than either to
believe them or to regurgitate them and to exacerbate them in this very
debate.
The 2020 election was held. There were countless lawsuits before,
during, and after the election. Ballots were counted. Ballots were
recounted. Ballots were audited. It is clear who won the election. It
is not some mass conspiracy to keep Donald Trump from having won that
election.
January 6 happened. Don't take my word for it--plenty of video
coverage. All types of news outlets saw the violence that day. It is
undeniable.
The rule of law was followed. People who were accused of involvement
on January 6 had their day the court. Maybe some were found innocent.
Maybe some were found guilty of lesser charges. Many were convicted,
found guilty because of the proof, because of the evidence, by juries
of their peers.
It is President Trump who sent the message that if he came back into
office, they would be pardoned. He won the election. I can say it. It
was not my choice in 2024, but he won the election. I will admit it.
And he made good on his promise to pardon those who were involved in
the violence on January 6 in this Capitol. But I refuse to stand here
and just let the administration and any Republican Member of Congress--
in either House--who agrees with him to set up this slush fund. It is
an offense and disrespectful to the American taxpayer, to our
democracy, and to our Constitution.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hagerty). The Senator from Alabama.
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