Here’s The List Of Would-Be Applicants To Trump’s Controversial $1.8B Slush Fund

Michael Caputo: A former Health and Human Services spokesperson during Trump’s first term, Caputo was the first known applicant to the fund and is seeking $2.7 million, claiming he was unfairly targeted by an FBI investigation into Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election and another government investigation into a One America News documentary he produced about former President Joe Biden and Ukraine.

George Santos (Photo credit: Getty Images): The former Republican congressman, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for wire fraud and identity theft before he was pardoned by Trump after less than three months, said he was considering applying for the fund, but wants a formal apology from the government rather than a monetary settlement, he told The Washington Post.

Michael Cohen: Trump’s former fixer-turned-nemesis who pleaded guilty to multiple criminal charges related to both his personal business and work with Trump, told The Wall Street Journal he’s already started working on his application.

Roger Stone: Pardoned by Trump in 2020 days before he was to report to prison to serve a sentence for lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional investigation, Stone told The Journal he believes he would “certainly be entitled to make a claim,” but wants to see the criteria first.

Mike Lindell: The MyPillow CEO, who aggressively amplified Trump’s false claims he won the 2020 election and helped organize the Jan. 6 protests, said he will apply for the fund, and believes his employees are entitled to compensation because his companies lost money over election-related lawsuits and government investigations into his role in the election fraud scheme.

Mark McCloskey: He and his wife notoriously pointed guns at Black Lives Matter demonstrators outside their St. Louis home in 2020, then pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in the incident the following year. McCloskey, who was later pardoned by the Missouri governor, represents rioters who want to apply and is also considering applying himself, telling The Washington Post the fund was “great news.”

Tina Peters (Photo credit: Getty Images): Calling Peters an “innocent grandmother,” Vice President JD Vance said it’s “reasonable for her to get some compensation,” after she was convicted and sentenced to prison for attempting to breach the state’s election system and help push unfounded claims of fraud in the 2020 election while serving as a clerk in Mesa County, Colorado. Democrat Colorado Gov. Jared Polis commuted her sentence, and she is set to be released from prison on June 1.

January 6 defendants: More than 1,500 people were prosecuted for their roles in storming the Capitol, and some have said publicly they’ve already started working on pursuing claims from the fund, while several lawyers who represent Jan. 6 defendants have said they’ve seen heightened interest from their clients, including Florida lawyer Peter Ticktin, who told ABC News he believes about 400 of his Jan. 6 clients will apply. Almost immediately after taking office, Trump pardoned all but 14 people (whose sentences commuted) convicted in connection with the Jan. 6 riots and ordered any pending cases be dismissed.

Enrique Tarrio (Photo credit: AFP via Getty Images): A former leader of the extremist group, the Proud Boys, Tarrio received the longest sentence of any Jan. 6 defendant—22 years for seditious conspiracy and other charges—before he was pardoned by Trump, and told PBS News he believes he’s owed “somewhere in the mid-tens of millions” of dollars.

Adam Johnson: Photographed carrying then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s, D-Calif., lectern during the Jan. 6 attack and sentenced to 75 days in prison, Johnson announced his intentions to pursue a claim on X, writing, “what they did to me will have a generational effect on my family and their livelihoods.”

Michigan “fake electors”: Meshawn Maddock, one of the former Michigan GOP representatives accused of signing fake certificates claiming Trump won their states’ Electoral College votes in 2020, told CNN the fund was an “emotional relief.” Kevin Kijewski, a lawyer who represents another one of the accused lawmakers, Clifford Frost, also indicated his client might apply, calling the fund a “good idea.”

John Eastman: The conservative lawyer was disbarred in California earlier this year for his role in trying to help Trump overturn the results of the 2020 election and told The Washington Times podcast he is considering applying for the fund, but wants to know more details first.

Sam Nunberg: The Wall Street Journal, citing a source familiar with his plans, reported that Nunberg, a former 2016 Trump campaign aide, will seek a payout from the fund over the subpoena he was served in the investigation into coordination between the Russian government and the 2016 Trump campaign.

Rod Blagojevich: Also pardoned by Trump eight years into his 14-year prison sentence on corruption-related charges, the former Illinois governor didn’t rule out the prospect of applying to the fund, telling The Washington Post, “I’m not going to stop seeking vindication, if this is the vehicle, I haven’t given it much thought.”

Anti-abortion activists: The Justice Department specifically noted Biden-era prosecutions against people for blocking access to abortion clinics as an example of the alleged government overreach the fund is designed to address, and Steve Crampton, an attorney for anti-abortion activists told The Wall Street Journal he is “actively exploring available avenues to seek compensation for clients who were unfairly targeted by politically motivated government overreach.”

Moms for Liberty: In announcing the fund, the Justice Department falsely accused the Biden administration of calling parents who protested at school board meetings against COVID-19 restrictions and other curriculum changes, “domestic terrorists,” an apparent reference to the Biden administration monitoring threats against school officials at the time, though the administration did not refer to any parents as “terrorists.” Chief Executive of the conservative parents’ rights group, Moms for Liberty, Tina Descovich told The Wall Street Journal, “like many conservative organizations, Moms for Liberty was targeted by the Biden administration” and is “currently exploring our options to seek restitution.