Two police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack sued Wednesday to block payments from President Donald Trump's new $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund," warning that the program could send taxpayer-backed compensation to rioters who assaulted police and tried to stop Congress from certifying the 2020 election.
Concretely, former U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Department officer Daniel Hodges filed the lawsuit in federal court in Washington. They argued that the fund is unconstitutional, legally unauthorized, and dangerous to officers who continue to face threats tied to the Capitol attack. It asks a judge to stop payouts and dissolve the fund.
The complaint calls the fund "the most brazen act of presidential corruption this century" and alleges Trump "created a $1.776 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund to finance the insurrectionists and paramilitary groups that commit violence in his name."
The Justice Department announced the fund this week, saying it would compensate people who claim they were targeted for political, personal, or ideological reasons. DOJ said the money would come from the federal judgment fund, a permanent appropriation used to settle and pay claims against the government. The fund can issue formal apologies and monetary relief, and there are "no partisan requirements" to file a claim, according to the department.
The fund stems from Trump's settlement with the IRS over the leak of his tax returns. Trump had filed a $10 billion lawsuit over the disclosure, then agreed to drop it as the Justice Department created the new compensation program. Decisions on payments will be made by a five-member commission appointed by the attorney general.
The officers' lawsuit came one day after Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the fund would not be limited to Jan. 6 cases and could be available to people from any political party who claim they experienced government "weaponization."
Both Dunn and Hodges became public witnesses to the violence of Jan. 6. Dunn, a Black former Capitol Police officer, has spoken about the physical and racist abuse he endured during the attack and has said he suffered post-traumatic stress disorder afterward. Hodges was seen in a widely circulated video pinned in a doorway by rioters as one attacker ripped at his equipment during the fight for control of a Capitol entrance.
More than 100 police officers were injured during the Capitol riot, and more than 1,600 people were charged in Jan. 6-related cases before Trump used his pardon power to erase those prosecutions last year, according to AP.
The lawsuit argues that the fund "encourages those who enacted violence in the President's name to continue to do so" and says Dunn and Hodges already face regular threats of death and violence. Their attorneys say the program increases that danger by potentially rewarding the very people who attacked law enforcement.
The Justice Department says the fund will report quarterly to the attorney general, can be audited at the attorney general's direction, and must stop processing claims by Dec. 1, 2028. Any remaining money would return to the federal government, DOJ said. Blanche and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are also named as defendants. Spokespeople for the Justice and Treasury departments did not immediately comment on the lawsuit, according to AP.
