Police officers who defended US Capitol on January 6 sue to stop Trump’s ‘anti-weaponization’ fund

By Devan Cole, CNN

(CNN) — Law enforcement officers who protected the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, sued the Trump administration on Wednesday to block implementation of a newly created $1.8 billion fund for allies of President Donald Trump who say they were unfairly investigated by previous administrations.

The lawsuit brought in federal court by Harry Dunn, a former member of the US Capitol Police, and Daniel Hodges, a current member of the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department, claims that the new fund runs afoul of the US Constitution and federal law.

The men say the fund will potentially be used to pay individuals who participated in the attack and finance various paramilitary organizations in the country.

“If allowed to begin making payments, the fund will directly finance the violent operations of rioters, paramilitaries, and their supporters who threatened plaintiffs’ lives that day, and continue to do so,” lawyers for Dunn and Hodges wrote in the 29-page suit.

“Militias like the Proud Boys will use money from the fund to arm and equip themselves. The fund will grant their pasts acts of violence legal imprimatur,” the lawsuit claims.

“And, most chillingly, the fund will signal to past and potential future perpetrators of violence against Dunn and Hodges that they need not fear prosecution; to the contrary, they should expect to be rewarded,” the lawsuit reads. “Dunn and Hodges did not back down on January 6. Instead, they held the line to defend democracy and the rule of law. They bring this case to do so once again.”

The lawsuit asks a federal judge in DC to declare the administration’s decision to set up the fund is unlawful and for an order blocking officials from taking steps to implement it and requiring any payments already made from it to be reversed.

The new fund, the men allege, violates a provision of the 14th Amendment that bars the government from paying debts “incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States.” They also say that officials violated federal rulemaking laws by creating the fund, which stemmed from a $10 billion lawsuit Trump, in his individual capacity, brought against the Internal Revenue Service earlier this year.

That law, the Administrative Procedure Act, allows individuals to challenge some government decision-making. Lawyers for Dunn and Hodges say that officials violated it by not following a different provision of federal law that says the government can only settle lawsuits after the attorney general agrees that such payment “is in the interest of the United States.”

“The payment of $1.776 billion into the Anti-Weaponization Fund to settle Trump v. IRS was patently not ‘in the interest of the United States,’” they wrote in the lawsuit. “Rather, it was a misappropriation of taxpayer funds orchestrated by the President to reward his allies and the rioters who committed violence in his name.”

The case comes a day after acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who was once Trump’s personal attorney, in testimony to a Senate appropriations panel, declined to rule out the possibility whether those who assaulted law enforcement officers on January 6 would be eligible for a payout.

“I will definitely encourage the commissioners to take everything into account when determining who should get compensation,” Blanche said, referring to a five-member commission that will review claims submitted by people looking to be paid out of the fund.

While the attorney general’s office would appoint the five members, Trump would have the ultimate power, being allowed to fire them at any time.

“But why not this specific issue of (being) convicted of violent acts against police officers?” Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley asked. “You feel they should get compensation after being convicted of violent acts?”

“My feelings don’t matter, senator,” Blanche said.

Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday also declined to rule out the idea that those who assaulted police officers could get money from the fund.

“We do have people who were accused of attacking law enforcement officers,” Vance told reporters at the White House. “That doesn’t mean that we’re going to completely ignore some of the claims that they’re going to make.”

CNN’s Kit Maher contributed to this report.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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