Mike Collins: “That’s easy. Yes.”
GOP U.S. Senate nominee Mike Collins is facing intense scrutiny after making a “stunning admission” at a campaign event in Savannah on Wednesday by admitting that January 6th rioters should receive a payout and that he would support Donald Trump’s nearly $1.8 billion insurrectionist slush fund in the Senate.
This week, Mike Collins “became one of the first major Republican candidates for high office to not just back President Donald Trump’s ‘anti-weaponization fund,’ but also to say that people who stormed the Capitol on January 6 were eligible to get payouts.”
Collins’ commitment to back Donald Trump’s nearly $1.8 billion insurrectionist slush fund comes as his campaign for U.S. Senate continues to be dogged by unanswered questions about his “close ties” to white nationalism and the ongoing federal investigation into his illegal misuse of tax dollars.
See more below on what Georgians are reading after Mike Collins pledged to support Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion insurrectionist slush fund:
Raw Story: MAGA candidate makes stunning admission when pressed by J6er at Georgia campaign stop
By: Matthew Chapman | August 11, 2026
KEY EXCERPTS:
- GOP Senate candidate Mike Collins became one of the first major Republican candidates for high office to not just back President Donald Trump’s “anti-weaponization fund,” but also to say that people who stormed the Capitol on January 6 were eligible to get payouts.
- Collins was pressed at a campaign stop in Savannah by Dominic Box, a January 6 rioter and QAnon conspiracy theorist who was one of the more than 1,500 people pardoned by Trump’s mass clemency when he first took office.
- “With Todd Blanche being confirmed as the new attorney general, and the Victims of Political Weaponization Fund being such a controversial issue that’s important to me — I lost everything, I’m a business owner now in Savannah by the grace of God, I lost my home, my car, my entire life savings,” said Box. “To put it clearly, would you support either the Victims of Political Weaponization Fund, or some form of compensatory relief, not just to January 6ers like myself, but all Americans, left, right, and center, who have become victims of a weaponized political system?”
- “A lot of this has been politicized and weaponized,” replied Collins, adding, “When the federal government harms you, then yes, they have a liability too. That’s easy. Yes.”
- The status of the fund, which has been controversial even among many Republicans in the Senate, became a key sticking point in the confirmation of Blanche, which was stalled until he offered a fairly weak written commitment to holdout Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and John Cornyn (R-TX) that the fund would not be moving forward.
- Almost immediately after being fully confirmed, Blanche’s Justice Department issued a sweeping new opinion giving Trump and his allies new immunity protections.
AJC: Boxing Collins in
By: Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell, Patricia Murphy, Adam Beam | August 11, 2026
KEY EXCERPTS:
- A Georgia man who participated in the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, tried to get U.S. Rep. Mike Collins to back a plan allowing people charged that day to receive payment from the federal government.
- Dominic Box posed the question to Collins during a campaign stop in Savannah on Wednesday. And he took it as a victory when Collins, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, responded that he agreed that people who have been harmed by the federal government should be compensated.
- Box posted video of the exchange as proof that Collins, R-Jackson, supported the now abandoned effort by Trump to set aside money to pay people who were arrested on Jan. 6 […]
- Box spent years as a QAnon adherent and conspiracy theorist in Savannah before he livestreamed his march through the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He was found guilty of two felony counts of civil disorder and four misdemeanors following a June 2024 trial and was awaiting sentencing when Trump pardoned every Jan. 6 defendant.
- His participation in the U.S. Capitol riot is just one of several brushes with the law. He was arrested last month outside a Savannah sports bar and charged with two misdemeanors and a felony charge of interfering with public property. He is currently out of jail on bond on those charges.
Daily Beast: MAGA Candidate’s Pro-Anti-Weaponization Fund Stance
By: David Gardner, Farrah Tomazin, Sarah Ewall-Wice, Laura Esposito | August 11, 2026
KEY EXCERPTS:
- It’s hard to forget that Blanche got voted through by
hoodwinkingconvincing two Republican senators—Thom Tillis and John Cornyn—that Trump’s infamous $1.7 billion slush fund for his cronies was dead and that, pinky promise, that tax immunity for him and his entire family was only retrospective. - If you are wondering whether an incoming Republican senate would want to keep the fund dead, cast your gaze no further than Georgia, where Mike Collins is trying to unseat the rising Democratic star Jon Ossoff.
- The MAGA nominee was asked by Dominic Box, no innocent voter but a pardoned January 6 insurrectionist, whether he would support the fund or “some form of compensatory relief” for not just those who stormed the U.S. Capitol but any Americans who are “victims of a weaponized political system.”
- Collins couldn’t have been clearer: “A lot of things have been politicized and weaponized, and when the federal government harms you, then yes, they have a liability too. That’s easy,” he told Box, who had clearly identified himself as a January 6er at the event.
By: Ahmad Austin Jr. | August 11, 2026
KEY EXCERPTS:
- U.S. Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) told voters at a recent campaign event that he fully supports President Donald Trump’s anti-weaponization fund.
- Collins, who’s representing Georgia’s 10th Congressional District since 2023, will face Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff for one of the state’s Senate seats in November’s general election.
- On Tuesday, Collins spoke with voters in Savannah, Georgia. In a video posted online, one of the attendees asked for the congressman’s take on Trump’s proposed $1.8 billion fund for victims of the supposed weaponization of government. The attendee identified themselves as a January 6 rioter who “lost everything.”
- “With Todd Blanche being confirmed as the new Attorney General and the victims of political weaponization fund being such a controversial issue that’s important to me,” the attendee said. “I lost everything. I’m a business owner now in Savannah by the grace of God. I lost my home, my car, my entire life savings. To put it clearly, would you support either the victims of political weaponization fund, compensation fund, or some form of compensatory relief not just to January 6ers like myself, but all Americans left, right, and center who have become victims of a weaponized political system?”
- Collins immediately voiced his support for the fund.
- “A lot of things have been politicized and weaponized,” Collins said. “And when the federal government harms you, then yes, they have a liability to you. That’s easy. Yes, sir.”
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