Isaac Anthony Thomas, a former Genesee County commissioner candidate, was arrested Jan. 26, 2023, on multiple Jan. 6-related charges. In Jan. 2025, after President Trump's pardons and commutations for Jan. 6 cases, the Justice Department moved to dismiss his indictment, and Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly dismissed it with prejudice. In March 2026, Thomas filed a claim seeking $15.1 million from the federal government.
Thomas says the case cost him jail time, including solitary confinement, and that the FBI withheld exculpatory evidence and retaliated against him. A proposed Trump-era Anti-Weaponization Fund that might have compensated Jan. 6 defendants did not pass Congress, so he used a federal compensation claim form.
Isaac Anthony Thomas, a former Republican candidate for Genesee County Board of Commissioners, was arrested on Jan. 26, 2023, on Jan. 6-related charges; his case was dismissed with prejudice in Jan. 2025 after President Trump's Jan. 6 pardon proclamation, and he is now seeking $15.1 million from the federal government.
This appears to describe Noor Salman, wife of Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen. Federal prosecutors charged her with aiding and abetting; she was acquitted in 2018 after her FBI statement was undermined by cell-tower evidence. This is commentary about an episode/podcast, not a checkable factual claim.
BA former Michigan county commissioner candidate wants fifteen million dollars from the federal government.
BFifteen million? That's a real number.
BIsaac Anthony Thomas. Arrested January twenty-sixth, twenty twenty-three, on multiple January sixth charges.
BA judge dismissed the case with prejudice in January twenty twenty-five, after President Trump's pardon proclamation.
BAnd now he says the government withheld evidence and put him in solitary confinement.
BThe account MAGAts Exposed on X posted his words.
BQuote: 'The prosecution caused damage to my life that money cannot fully repair.'
BIf the FBI actually withheld exculpatory evidence, that's not a small thing.
BBut the case wasn't dismissed because a judge found him innocent.
BWith prejudice, which means it's done. The government can't recharge him.
BThat's not the same as saying the evidence was fake.
BIt means the new administration made a call.
BIf they had exculpatory evidence and sat on it, then the charges were the problem, not just the politics.
BThat's what he's claiming. It hasn't been proven.
BAnd now he wants fifteen million from taxpayers.
BIf the government locks you up, drops the case, and says 'my bad,' there has to be accountability.
BThere is a process. He filed a federal compensation claim.
BThe Michigan Times reports he says he was in solitary and the FBI withheld evidence.
BI'm not saying he's lying. I'm saying a pardon isn't a finding of innocence.
BA lot of January sixth defendants see the pardon as: the government should never have gone after them.
BA pardon erases punishment, not facts. It definitely doesn't print a check.
BSo a guy whose case was dismissed after months in jail gets nothing?
BIf he can prove misconduct, he should be compensated. But a claim form isn't proof.
BThis is the rare argument where I think we almost agree.
BAlmost. I still wouldn't sign the check yet.
BDifferent case, same uncomfortable question: what happens when prosecutors get it wrong.
BWhat do you mean?
BSportified on X posted about Noor Salman.
BFederal prosecutors charged her with aiding and abetting one of the worst mass shootings in American history.
BShe was the wife of the Pulse nightclub shooter.
BShe was acquitted in twenty eighteen.
BThe government said she scouted the target with her husband, pointing to a handwritten FBI confession.
BBut cell tower forensics tore that apart.
BExactly. Her statement was undermined, and the jury didn't buy it.
BThat case was a mess. A confession alone wasn't enough.
BIt's a reminder that a confession, even a handwritten one from an FBI interview, isn't a conviction.
BNo, and when the government overreaches, the jury can see it.
BI wonder how many people hear that and think, 'Well, if they charged her, she must have done something.'
BThat's the danger. Once the word 'terrorism' is in the room, the presumption of innocence gets thin.
BAnd she spent time in custody, her life turned upside down, then a jury said not guilty.
BDifferent case, no pardon involved. But it raises the same accountability question.
BI don't have a clean answer. I just know the federal government has a lot of power.
BAnd the only real check is the court, sometimes a jury, and the press.
BOne more international headline, but unconfirmed.
BGo ahead.
BRadio Generation on X says Tanzania's High Court may deliver a verdict Friday.
BThe case is the treason charge against opposition leader Tundu Lissu.
BIf true, that's significant. Lissu is a major opposition figure.
BThe account says the trial concluded in September.
BBut there's no official confirmation of Friday's date yet.
BTreason charges against an opposition leader are always serious.
BAnd until the court speaks, it stays a claim.
BWe'll see.