A U.S. lawyer is calling on Washington to compensate people who were prosecuted for storming the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, claiming they were the victims of political persecution.
Mark McCloskey wants the government to create a fund for the “J6ers,” as they are known, and claims he met recently about this with top U.S. justice officials.
“No time else in the history of the United States have people gone to federal prison,” for what he described as “misdemeanor trespassing,” he said last week during an X livestream.
McCloskey said U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to take care of the J6ers, who were protesting his election loss to Joe Biden, and that “the time has come for [Trump] to step up” — an argument refuted by at least one legal expert and a law enforcement official who was injured in the riot.
McCloskey did not respond to requests for an interview from CBC News. The U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment.
Online, McCloskey said no amount of money will give people their lives back, but that he can turn their losses “into dollar bills.” He also said a class-action lawsuit would not be appropriate because the J6ers’ cases are too different.
