Watch Video: 2 officers who clashed with rioters on January 6 sue to block DOJ “anti-weaponization” fund
Two law enforcement officers who clashed with rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, sued Wednesday to block the Trump administration’s $1.7 billion “anti-weaponization fund,” which was created this week as part of a settlement between President Trump and the federal government.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the District of Columbia by retired U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Department officer Daniel Hodges, asks a federal judge to find the creation of the fund illegal and reverse any transfers that the Treasury Department has made to the Justice Department to implement it.
Both Dunn and Hodges defended the U.S. Capitol after a mob of Trump supporters attempted to stop the certification of the Electoral College on Jan. 6, 2021.
The fund was announced Monday by the Justice Department. In a statement announcing the $1.776 billion fund, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the fund would “provide a systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare.”
Since the announcement, attorneys representing those claiming the government was weaponized against them have begun scrambling to position their clients for payouts.
Jan. 6 rioters — including those convicted of the most violent behavior during the attack but later pardoned by Mr. Trump — could likely apply for payouts. High-profile former Trump administration and campaign officials who sued the Justice Department before reaching their own settlement agreements may also be eligible to receive payments from the fund.
Neither Blanche nor the White House has said outright that they would oppose payouts from the fund to those convicted — and since pardoned — of assaulting law enforcement officers. The Justice Department has not disclosed any criteria regarding who would be eligible for a settlement or whether there would be a cap. Blanche said at a Senate hearing this week that the five-member commission that will make up the fund’s board would supply that information.
“By creating the Anti-Weaponization Fund, funding it, and authorizing claim criteria that will allow it to make payments to, among others, Proud Boys and January 6 rioters, Defendants have inflicted concrete and cognizable harms on Plaintiffs Dunn and Hodges,” the officers argued in their complaint. “The Fund’s mere existence sends a clear and chilling message: those who enact violence in President Trump’s name will not just avoid punishment, they will be rewarded with riches.”
“This Fund creates enormous physical dangers for Officers Dunn and Hodges, who risked their lives on January 6, 2021, and who continue to do so by refusing to let that day be forgotten,” wrote Public Integrity Project founder Brendan Ballou, who represents the officers. “The Fund is stunningly, blindingly illegal, and the defendants must be prohibited from transferring money to this corrupt and illegal monstrosity.”
The settlement stemmed from a $10 billion lawsuit filed earlier this year in federal court by Mr. Trump, who accused the agencies of unlawfully allowing a government contractor to leak his tax returns and those of his sons and his company. He alleged the government’s mishandling led to the improper disclosure of the tax documents to media outlets in 2020. His sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., and the Trump Organization were also plaintiffs in the suit.
Mr. Trump and his legal team also agreed to drop their administrative claims against the Justice Department after he asked the government to pay him about $230 million to settle two federal damage claims over investigations targeting him during his first administration or the Biden administration, the department said.
The settlement also permanently bars the IRS from pursuing claims against Mr. Trump or his company based on prior tax returns.
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2 officers in Jan. 6 riot sue to block DOJ ‘anti-weaponization’ fund
