Donald Trump supporters clash with police and security forces during the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC (Photo by Brent Stirton/Getty Images)
Two police officers who defended the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 sued the Trump administration on Wednesday to block the creation of a nearly $1.8 billion fund to pay people alleged to have been victims of judicial weaponry.
Retired U.S. police officer Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges said in a Complaint in federal court that the Jan. 6 rioters, nearly all of whom received pardons from President Donald Trump on his first day in office last year, could benefit from the fund and employ the money to organize more violent activities.
“In the most brazen act of presidential corruption this century, President Donald J. Trump established a $1.776 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund to finance the insurgents and paramilitary groups that commit violence in his name,” the first paragraph of the complaint reads.
The lawsuit lists Trump, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as defendants.
The Justice Department, which Blanche has led since last month, announced the creation of the fund on Monday as Trump dropped a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS.
Claims of victims of “armament”
The fund would employ money from a pool set aside for settling legal claims against the federal government to compensate people who are “victims of litigation and gun use,” Blanche said a press release.
Trump has long complained that the Biden administration has targeted him, his allies and supporters over prosecutions that were not supported by facts on the ground. That claim was part of his rationale for pardoning people convicted of crimes on Jan. 6.
The press release specifically states that there is no partisan test to benefit from the fund, but the structure gives nearly complete control to Trump and Blanche, who was Trump’s defense attorney before joining the administration.
Payments from the fund would be decided by a five-member panel appointed by the attorney general. Only an appointment would require “consultation” with Congress and the president could fire any member. The fund would be dissolved in December 2028, a month before the end of Trump’s term.
Dunn and Hodges said in Wednesday’s legal challenge that Trump’s IRS lawsuit was frivolous from the start because the president was suing a government agency he controlled. It was also said that the lawsuit was only filed after the statute of limitations had expired.
The agreement was “a corrupt farce,” they said.
January 6 Injuries
Dunn and Hodges were both stationed at the Capitol during the 2021 attack. The lawsuit describes the danger they faced and the injuries they sustained. Hodges said a rioter tried to gouge his eyes out and he thought he would die if he was crushed between metal doors.
Investigations into the attack revealed that it was a “planned uprising” by paramilitary groups such as the Proud Boys, the lawsuit says.
Many of the people Trump pardoned for crimes related to the attack, including former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio sentenced Sentenced to 22 years in prison for sedition, they expressed a desire to take revenge, according to the lawsuit.
On January 6 of this year, Tarrio said on right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ podcast that he was looking for “…retribution, retribution” following his pardon.
Fund is called “Stupid on Stilts”
The fund is illegal, Dunn and Hodges’ lawsuit says. No law authorized its creation, and the funds used to create the judgment fund, which are used to pay out other settlements, are not applicable if no settlement has been reached, they said.
Members of Congress, including Republicans, have major reservations about the fund.
During a two-hour session Thursday, Blanche introduced a group of Senate Republicans but didn’t appear to change many of their minds.
Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, said the meeting was a “lively discussion.”
Shortly after the meeting, the chamber’s GOP leaders told members wouldn’t choose This month’s consideration is a $72 billion bill to fund immigration enforcement and security improvements to Trump’s planned White House ballroom. Senators attempted to include guardrails for the DOJ fund in the bill.
On a Wednesday Interview with Spectrum NewsOutgoing GOP Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina called the fund “stupid on stilts.”
“It will inevitably put us in a position where your tax dollars and my tax dollars could potentially compensate someone who assaulted a police officer, admitted guilt, was convicted or pardoned, and now we’re going to pay them for it,” he said. “That’s absurd.”
Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, also objected. Blanche was testifying at a Senate budget hearing on Tuesday when Collins asked him about the fund. She later said his answers did not find her support.
“Following my interactions with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, I do not support the creation of the proposed anti-gun fund,” she said in a written statement, which also noted that no court had approved it.
Dunn is also a candidate
A White House spokesman deferred a message seeking comment to the Justice Department on Thursday. Spokespeople for the department did not respond to messages.
Dunn, who is running as a Democrat for a U.S. House seat in Maryland, told Maryland Matters that the fund was no surprise.
“That was a promise to his supporters,” Dunn said. “When it was finally announced, there was no doubt in our minds that we should stop this.”
Ashley Murray and Will Ford contributed to this report.
