MAGA pundit doubles down on a lie about Jan. 6, and CNN’s host shut it down on the spot

A heated exchange took place on CNN’s “This Morning” when conservative commentator Terry Schilling made a false claim about January 6 defendants. Schilling said the government held thousands of people in prison without charges for years, and used this to justify potential government payouts for January 6 rioters. Host Audie Cornish quickly shut down the claim.

The Department of Justice set up a $1.776 billion fund to repay people who say they were politically targeted by previous administrations. Schilling tried to use this to defend payouts for Trump allies who had already been convicted or had pleaded guilty. “I don’t actually know what the real facts are here, but the government was weaponized against very innocent people,” he said, pointing to the cases of Michael Caputo and Mike Flynn.

According to Raw Story, Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright pushed back hard, calling the fund corrupt and unconstitutional. “Not only is this corrupt, it’s unconstitutional because Congress controls the purse,” he said. “So this MAGA slush fund was set to take taxpayers’ dollars and give to white nationalists and white supremacists who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6.”

Schilling’s false claims about Jan. 6 detention fell apart in real time

Schilling then made a clearly untrue statement, saying thousands of January 6 defendants were held without charges and had no way to challenge their detention. “These people were there, thousands of Jan. 6, were held without charges, without the ability to even contest it,” he said. “You’re looking at me like I’m crazy.”

Cornish responded directly, saying “That is not something I’ve heard.” She clarified that many January 6 defendants were formally charged with federal crimes and held without bond while waiting for trial. 

“There were people who went to jail because they were convicted,” she added. This is not the first time MAGA loyalists have felt betrayed by Trump’s moves, with some supporters expressing deep frustration over his decisions.

Schilling continued to push his claim, insisting that thousands were jailed without any charges. Cornish stepped in again to correct the record, explaining that the people in question were in pretrial detention and were going through the normal legal process. “This is not what the weaponization fund does,” she said, shutting down his argument.

Seawright also took issue with broader concerns around the fund, pointing to what he called a double standard. “The fact that you have a president who’s willing to exempt his family for the rest of their lives from being audited for tax purposes, when this is the same man who tried to act as if people were behaving as if they were above the law. That’s corrupt and it’s wrong,” he said. There has also been growing tension within the base, with reports of Trump’s supporters clashing with him over elections showing just how divided things have become.

The reality is that the January 6 defendants Schilling referred to were not held without charges. They went through the federal court system, faced formal charges, and many were convicted. Schilling’s claim that they were denied the ability to contest their detention does not hold up against how the legal process actually played out.