Jan. 6 officers sue to block Trump's $1.8B fund over potential payouts to rioters

Two police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack have sued to stop President Donald Trump’s newly created $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” arguing that it could end up paying people who took part in the riot and other violent acts against law enforcement. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, says the fund is unlawful, unconstitutional and should be dissolved before any money is distributed.

The plaintiffs are former U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Department officer Daniel Hodges, both of whom were among the officers assaulted during the Capitol attack. According to the Independent, they say the fund would not only compensate people they believe were wrongly targeted by the Biden administration, but could also be used to reward those who committed violence in Trump’s name. Their complaint calls the arrangement a “slush fund” and says it would finance “insurrectionists and paramilitary groups.”

The fund was announced as part of a settlement involving Trump’s $10 billion claim against the Internal Revenue Service. The Justice Department described it as a compensation mechanism for people who allege they were unfairly targeted by the government under President Joe Biden. But the officers’ lawsuit argues there is no legal authority for creating such a fund in this way, and that the settlement is a “corrupt sham” designed to evade normal oversight. It also says the arrangement violates the Constitution and the federal Administrative Procedures Act, which governs how agencies make decisions.

The dispute sharpened after Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, a former Trump personal lawyer, defended the fund during a congressional hearing. As reported by the Independent, Blanche declined to rule out the possibility that Jan. 6 rioters who assaulted police could receive payouts. He said, “Just to be clear, people that hurt police get money all the time,” a remark that drew sharp criticism from opponents of the fund and added to concerns that it could benefit people connected to the Capitol attack.

The lawsuit says the fund creates a direct risk to the officers and the public by publicly financing groups that carried out political violence. Dunn and Hodges are asking the court to block the fund from being created or funded at all. Their case comes amid continuing fights over how to handle the aftermath of Jan. 6, including accountability for rioters and the treatment of officers injured in the attack.

The broader issue now before the court is not only whether Trump’s administration can set up such a compensation program, but whether money tied to a federal settlement can be directed toward people accused of violent conduct against police. For the officers who stood at the Capitol doors on Jan. 6, the case is about more than paperwork: they argue it is about whether the government should ever be seen as paying, directly or indirectly, the people who attacked them.