A man who cashed in on the January 6 attack by selling footage of the chaos for $63,000 won’t be seeing that money again — even after Donald Trump pardoned him.
John Sullivan, who filmed the moment rioter Ashli Babbitt was shot and later sold the video to media outlets, had to forfeit his earnings as part of his criminal case. Then came Trump’s Day One pardon spree. Sullivan’s conviction was wiped out, and he went straight to court to demand his money back.
The Trump’s Justice Department agreed with him. But U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth shut it down.
Lamberth ruled that once money goes into the U.S. Treasury, it can’t just be handed out — not even by a court. Only Congress can approve that, under the Constitution.
“Money is money, the Treasury is the Treasury, and the Constitution says what it says: Once money is in the Treasury, it can only be withdrawn pursuant to a Congressional appropriation,” the judge wrote. “All that matters is that funds may not be drawn from the Treasury without an appropriation, plain and simple.”
The case isn’t just about Sullivan. Dozens of other Jan. 6 defendants are trying to recover fines and restitution they paid after their convictions. Lamberth’s ruling could shut those efforts down, too.
Sullivan, who has no clear political allegiance, stood out during the riot. Lamberth called his role “idiosyncratic” and said Sullivan wasn’t there out of loyalty to Trump — just to create chaos and make money.
“Mr. Sullivan callously used the riots as an opportunity for personal profit, manipulating other rioters for his own gain,” the judge wrote. “Mr. Sullivan cynically and falsely portrayed himself as a journalist not only to legitimize his cruel profiteering — at the expense of the police, his fellow rioters, and his country — but also in hopes of evading legal accountability for his actions.”
Sullivan’s footage didn’t just earn him cash — it helped prosecutors in hundreds of other Jan. 6 cases. But none of that was enough to convince the judge he deserved his money back.
Trump may have erased his conviction. But the $63,000 is staying with the government.
