DOJ 'Proudly' Deletes Record of J6 Rioter With Active Child Solicitation Case as Admin Readies $1.8 Billion Payout Fund

The Justice Department has scrubbed hundreds of press releases about 6 January defendants from its official website, including one man facing an active child solicitation charge who stormed the Capitol armed with bear spray.

The department confirmed the deletions on Friday, with its official Rapid Response account on X declaring the move a proud reversal of what it called Biden-era 'weaponisation.' The sweeping purge coincides with the Trump administration's announcement of a £1.42 billion ($1.776 billion) 'Anti-Weaponisation Fund' that could deliver taxpayer-funded payouts to pardoned rioters.

That prospect has drawn fierce bipartisan criticism in Congress and triggered multiple federal lawsuits.

DOJ Deletes Jan. 6 Records as 'Partisan Propaganda'

A review by NBC News found the vast majority of press releases pertaining to Jan. 6 defendants had been removed from the DOJ website by Friday evening. The department had maintained a comprehensive database covering roughly 1,600 defendants, along with monthly prosecution updates tied to the US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.

The DOJ's own Rapid Response account on X did not distance itself from the deletions. 'Nothing "quie"' about it,' it posted. 'We are proud to reverse the DOJ's weaponisation under the Biden administration. We will do everything in our power to make whole those who were persecuted for political purposes. This includes stripping DOJ's website of partisan propaganda.'

Among the deleted records was a press release concerning a Jan. 6 defendant who carried bear spray into the Capitol and had an ongoing child solicitation case at the time the document was removed, according to Washington Post reporter Meryl Kornfield. That profile aligns with Andrew Taake, a Houston man who was pardoned by President Donald Trump in January 2025 and subsequently arrested in Texas on a 2016 felony charge of online solicitation of a minor. Taake had been sentenced to six years in federal prison for assaulting Capitol Police officers with bear spray and a whip-like weapon.

Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare confirmed in a statement that Taake was taken into custody on 6 February 2025, weeks after being released from federal prison in Colorado pursuant to Trump's mass clemency. 'We would like to thank the coordinated efforts of our office's Fugitive Apprehension Section, Leon County Sheriff's Office, and Texas Department of Public Safety for their diligence in getting this suspected child predator back into custody,' Teare said.

Anti-Weaponisation Fund Sparks Protests and Eligibility Debate

On Monday, the Trump administration announced the creation of a $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponisation Fund, formalised as part of a settlement resolving Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the fund would compensate those who 'suffered weaponisation and lawfare' at the hands of the government.

The fund, drawn entirely from the federal Judgment Fund, is to be administered by a five-member commission appointed by the attorney general. Vice President JD Vance declined to rule out payments to Jan. 6 rioters convicted of assaulting police officers, telling reporters the administration would evaluate applications on a 'case-by-case basis.' Jan. 6 defendants and their lawyers have already expressed enthusiasm about applying.

The bipartisan backlash has been sharp. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement: 'So, the nation's top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops? Utterly stupid, morally wrong.' Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) said she did not want anyone who assaulted police at the Capitol to receive a payment. The fund's creation contributed to Senate Republicans abandoning a vote on the party-line reconciliation bill before the Memorial Day break.

Multiple lawsuits have been filed to block the fund. Former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Department Officer Daniel Hodges filed a federal suit alleging the fund would 'directly finance the violent operations of rioters, paramilitaries, and their supporters.' CREW filed a separate action calling the fund 'a jaw-dropping act of presidential corruption.'

A Pattern of Post-Pardon Criminal Conduct

The press release deletion and the payout fund together form part of a broader reframing effort by the Trump administration, one that critics say obscures a documented pattern of post-pardon criminal conduct. Trump pardoned roughly 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants on his first day back in office on 20 January 2025.

Since then, multiple pardoned rioters have faced fresh charges. Andrew Paul Johnson, also pardoned, was later tried on child molestation charges in Florida. David Daniel agreed to a plea deal on child exploitation charges in North Carolina. Daniel Tocci, another pardoned Capitol rioter, was sentenced to four years in prison after investigators discovered over 110,000 files of child sexual abuse material on his devices, initially found during the Jan. 6 investigation.

Former DOJ official Ed Martin, who had led the department's 'weaponisation' working group, told a conservative podcaster as early as May 2025 that rioters deserved payouts. 'You're damn right I want to pay J6ers,' he said. 'If you got wronged by the government, then you should be made right.'

As the lawsuits mount and Congress fragments over the fund's legality, the Justice Department's dual move of erasing prosecutorial records and opening a compensation pipeline to the same defendants has prompted questions about whether the rule of law is being rewritten or simply deleted.