Mark McCloskey reverses course as Jan. 6 payout fund materializes

Mark McCloskey, the St. Louis attorney who gained national notoriety in 2020 when he and his wife Patricia brandished firearms at Black Lives Matter protesters marching past their home, abruptly reversed course this month and announced he is resuming legal representation of clients who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot — a reversal that arrived with conspicuous timing, just days after the Trump administration announced a $1.8 billion government fund potentially available to those who say they were victimized by the Justice Department under President Biden.

In April, Mr. McCloskey had written to his Jan. 6 clients that “due to personal reasons, I am unable to continue this fight at this time,” handing the cases to fellow attorney Peter Ticktin, with whom he had partnered on Capitol riot claims.

The reason for the withdrawal, Mr. McCloskey disclosed in a May 15 letter to clients, was a serious medical diagnosis. The Bulwark reported that the condition was a terminal lung disease, and Mr. McCloskey wrote to clients that he had been diagnosed with “a condition which would not give me enough time to complete my work for you.”

Just days later, however, Mr. McCloskey signaled he was back. He announced that his prognosis “is not as bleak as first indicated” and that he was once again ready to seek compensation for those who took part in the Jan. 6 attack — one day after ABC News reported that President Trump would drop his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service in exchange for the creation of a compensation fund for alleged victims of what the administration calls the “weaponization” of the justice system.

In the letter announcing his return, Mr. McCloskey wrote: “There is a reported possible ’Weaponization Fund’ which sounds a great deal like what we have been pushing for the last year.”

Mr. Ticktin, who had stepped in to cover the cases during Mr. McCloskey’s absence, was blunt in his assessment of the timing. “I didn’t realize finding out you can make money can cure cancer, but apparently you can,” Mr. Ticktin told The Bulwark. In a separate letter to clients, Mr. Ticktin added: “I never stopped representing you, money or no money. I would never quit.”

The Trump administration announced a $1.776 billion compensation scheme for those who claim they were victims of alleged DOJ “weaponization” during the Biden years, created as part of an agreement in which Mr. Trump dropped a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over claims the agency failed to prevent the leak of his tax returns to the press in 2020.

NBC News reported that Mr. McCloskey and Mr. Ticktin had been lobbying the White House for payouts on behalf of their clients. In an interview after the fund’s announcement, Mr. McCloskey said he was “pretty darn excited” about it, calling it “very similar” to what they had been proposing. “It’s a program that we’ve been lobbying for for the past 13, 14 months, and I couldn’t be happier that it’s finally coming to fruition,” he said.

Mr. McCloskey has advocated for the Jan. 6 fund in at least four meetings with Justice Department officials, including Ed Martin, the director of a unit tasked with investigating Mr. Trump’s political opponents, who has said publicly that he supports “reparations” for Jan. 6 defendants.

Mr. McCloskey is also waiting for application details on the fund for himself personally, in addition to his Jan. 6 clients. “Everybody’s very excited about it,” he said. “It’s the first ray of light we’ve seen in a long time.”

Mr. Ticktin, who separately represents more than 400 Jan. 6 defendants, said he expects to file hundreds of claims once the Justice Department opens the application process. “People lost multi-million dollar businesses while they were locked up,” Mr. Ticktin said. “I don’t think the DOJ is ready for us yet.”

The convenient timing of Mr. McCloskey’s recovery drew sharp mockery online. Raw Story reported that the account SatireAP wrote on X: “Jesus healed Mark McCloskey’s terminal illness, just in time to collect his contingency fee.”

Dominic Box, convicted on two felony counts of civil disorder and four misdemeanors for his role in the Capitol attack, told The Bulwark that Mr. McCloskey would receive 30 percent of any reparations connected to the Jan. 6 cases. Mr. McCloskey dismissed that figure as “incorrect.”

Mr. McCloskey and his wife pleaded guilty to firearms charges related to the 2020 confrontation with protesters but were pardoned by the Missouri governor. He mounted an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate in 2022.