Good morning! It’s Danielle Battaglia with the latest edition of Under the Dome focused on the Trump administration.
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President Donald Trump said on social media last week “perhaps there has never been a group of people treated so badly in our Nation’s history” as the people who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
He verbally confirmed to reporters Friday morning that a $1.776 billion fund to compensate those individuals won’t be used, but refuses to put that in writing for members of Congress.
“I wish it weren’t (dead),” Trump said. “To be honest with you, I think these people were horribly treated, horribly abused … and I’d like to see them compensated for the pain.”
Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from Huntersville, is one of the lawmakers demanding the White House and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche confirm in writing that this fund won’t be used. Tillis, on social media, chastised Trump for his own social media post for calling the Jan. 6 rioters “great American patriots” who are “victims of government abuse.”
“Anyone who attacked law enforcement should still be in prison, not getting a check from the federal government,” Tillis said.
Upon reelection, Trump immediately pardoned anyone convicted of crimes connected to the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.
On Jan. 6, 2021, Trump stood before his supporters on the National Mall at his Save America rally and told them “if you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
His supporters then marched to the U.S. Capitol, where Congress was gathered to certify the election of President Joe Biden, Trump’s 2020 opponent. Some then broke into the building and attacked law enforcement with pepper spray, flagpoles and stun guns, among other weapons.
Some law enforcement suffered burns, concussions, strokes and suicide from the attack.
Officers spent that afternoon and evening protecting members of Congress and Vice President Mike Pence from the rioters chanting to “hang Mike Pence.”
In 2022, Cassidy Hutchinson, senior advisor to Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, who once represented North Carolina’s southwestern counties, testified that she overheard Meadows tell former White House Council Pat Cipollone that Trump believed Pence “deserved it.”
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Tillis has consistently supported law enforcement for their actions that day, and chastised the people who harmed them. Tillis even led an effort to ensure a plaque was hung at the U.S. Capitol to honor law enforcement’s actions that day.
Now Trump, Tillis and Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, are locked in a stalemate over the 1776 fund. Both senators refuse to confirm Blanche until they get that written commitment.
The fund was created in a settlement after Trump sued the IRS for leaking his tax returns. Another agreement that came from the settlement is that Trump, his family and Trump’s companies could never be investigated for past tax returns.
Tillis and Cornyn announced Thursday morning that Blanche was negotiating with them in good faith, but someone at the White House was blocking it.
And that seemingly is Trump.
A reporter asked Trump during a cabinet meeting at Camp David if he wanted his attorney general to find a way to pay back the Jan. 6 defendants regardless of whether the 1776 fund exists.
Trump told reporters that the people who rioted at the Capitol had their lives destroyed and they “went to prison for no reason, whatsoever.”
“Essentially there’s never been a group of people treated so badly as these people,” Trump told reporters, reiterating a message he posted Friday morning on social media.
Trump said his supporters went on “an innocent journey” and had their lives “destroyed.”
That’s it for now. Thanks for reading and supporting local journalism.
Be kind to each other. If you have any feedback or tips for this edition of the newsletter, feel free to reach out to me directly at [email protected].
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This story was originally published August 3, 2026 at 5:30 AM.