4 May 28 - June 3, 2026 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | ART OF THE DEAL Enrique Tarrio wants a piece of Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund. BY ALEX DELUCA O n Monday, May 18, the U.S. Department of Jus- tice (DOJ) announced the creation of a new $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund to compensate people who claim they have “suffered weapon- ization and lawfare.” The announcement provided scant details about how the fund would operate or who would qualify for payouts, but President Don- ald Trump told reporters the money was in- tended for people who were “horribly treated,” while Vice President JD Vance said the following day that “anybody” can apply. The loose criteria quickly raised questions about whether American taxpayers would ul- timately end up bankrolling people prose- cuted for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. While legal challenges are already under- way to block the fund, at least one Miami- born Jan. 6 figure says he plans to cash in. In a phone interview with New Times, longtime Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio said that while he hasn’t taken any concrete steps yet, he will “definitely” seek compensa- tion from the money pot, which he described as “another promise made, another promise kept” by Trump. “I’ve been pushing for this,” Tarrio said. “I think I was weaponized against. I think I’m a good example of that.” Tarrio, an Afro-Cuban American who be- came the Proud Boys’ leader in 2018, steered the group in a more political direction, pro- viding security for right-wing political figures and appearing at rallies on divisive issues, in- cluding COVID-19 mask mandates and the 2020 presidential election. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit civil-rights advocacy organization, has long designated the Proud Boys as a “hate group” because of the club’s frequent brawls with leftist protest- ers at political rallies and ties to white-na- tionalist and neo-Nazi groups while Tarrio was chairman. While Tarrio was not at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, prosecutors nonetheless cast him as the mastermind of the attack, present- ing evidence showing he created a special wing of the Proud Boys called the “Min- istry of Self De- fense,” which coordinated attacks during the insurrec- tion and celebrated them afterward. “Make no mistake…we did this,” Tarrio told senior Proud Boy leadership after the at- tack, according to the DOJ. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and other charges, the longest sentence imposed on any January 6 defendant. But in January 2025, just 16 months into his sentence, Trump pardoned Tarrio alongside the more than 1,500 peo- ple who’d been charged in connection with the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Janu- ary 6, 2021. He was freed from prison on Jan- uary 21, 2025, and returned to Miami. Including his time in jail awaiting trial and sentencing, he spent 34 months behind bars. During a Senate hearing on Tuesday, May 19, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said payouts from the fund will be decided by a five-member commission, four of whom will be selected by the attorney general and one in consultation with Congress. Longtime Trump ally Michael Caputo filed the first known claim for the fund, seeking $2.7 million in restitution. The political opera- tive, a former spokesperson for the Depart- ment of Health and Human Services during Trump’s first term, claims he was the target of an FBI investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.As for how much money Tarrio would seek? “How much I think I deserve is a whole other ball game, but I think I’m more realistic than most when it comes to that,” he said. “But yeah, this is definitely a really, really, fucking good step.” The controversial fund was set up after Trump agreed to drop a $10 billion lawsuit he filed against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns “in exchange” for the establishment of the fund. But the fund, which has been widely de- scribed as highly unusual, has been blasted by critics as a “slush fund” for “insurrectionists.” On Tuesday, May 19, two officers who de- fended the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack sued to block the fund, describ- ing it as a “taxpayer-funded slush fund to fi- nance the insurrectionists and paramilitary groups” that they say committed violence in the president’s name. “Although Trump and his cronies have been secretive about the fund’s ends, report- ing leaves no doubt that it will be used, among other purposes, to pay the nearly 1,600 people charged with attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021,” the complaint reads. [email protected] Enrique Tarrio and the Proud Boys at a Virginia rally in January 2020. Photo by Anthony Crider | METRO | “I’VE BEEN PUSHING FOR THIS. I THINK I WAS WEAPONIZED AGAINST.” Never again Miami Beach arrests German tourists over antisemitic graffiti. BY ALEX DELUCA M iami Beach Police have arrested two German tourists after one of them al- legedly scrawled an antisemitic mes- sage on the city’s rainbow Pride-themed bench. At around 5:30 p.m. on Monday, May 18, offi- cers with the Miami Beach Police Department (MBPD) were dispatched to 12th Street and Ocean Drive regarding antisemitic vandalism on one of the city’s new LGBTQ+ installations near Lummus Park, according to a police report. Pho- tos obtained by New Times show what officers saw upon arrival: the words “ADOLF WAS HERE” and a swastika symbol scribbled in marker on the yellow portion of the rainbow bench. According to the report, surveillance footage reviewed by police showed 58-year-old Chris- toph Rehak writing on the bench while 63-year- old Gunther Manfred Jekschtat blocked him with his body. Police later tracked the two men down to the Colony Hotel on Ocean Drive and took them to the Miami Beach Police headquarters. In an interview with police, Rehak confessed to writing the graffiti on the bench, explaining that he wrote it “as a joke,” according to the report. “Upon being interviewed, Mr. Rehak did not show intent of the remark as being a hate crime,” the arrest report reads. “Mr. Rehak was forth- coming and completed a written consent form allowing officers to view his phone. The photos of the graffiti were discovered.” The men — both of whom reside in Germany, according to their arrest reports — are currently being held in a Miami-Dade jail on misdemeanor criminal mischief charges involving property damage worth more than $200 and less than $1,000. The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office (SAO) is currently seeking hate crime enhance- ments for the charges. “The 1st Degree Misdemeanor charge of Crimi- nal Mischief more than $200 and less than $1000 is presently being reviewed to see if it can be en- hanced to a 3rd Degree Felony under Florida’s Hate Crime Enhancement statute,” Ed Griffith, a spokesperson for the Miami-Dade State Attor- ney’s Office, wrote in an email to New Times. In a statement shared on X (formerly known as Twitter), Miami Beach mayor Steven Meiner wrote that a “disturbing hate crime occurred in our city yesterday.” “Miami Beach has zero tolerance for hate, bigotry, antisemitism, or acts intended to intimidate any group,” Meiner’s statement read. “We will continue to act swiftly to protect our residents, visitors, and the values of respect and inclusion that define our city.” In early April — months after crews with the Florida Department of Transportation removed Miami Beach’s festive rainbow Pride crosswalk overnight following state orders to remove all street art “associated with social, political, or ide- ological messaging” — Miami Beach reassem- bled the more than 3,000 colorful pavers on city (not state) property near Lummus Park. As noted in a Facebook post from the city, the reimagined crosswalk would be accompa- nied by a commemorative plaque and a new rainbow bench. City crews reportedly removed the entire bench. Miami Beach Commissioner Joe Magazine told WSVN 7News that the bench has been temporarily replaced with police tape, but will be put back. It remains unclear when that will happen. [email protected]
