Two police officers, who helped defend the U.S. Capitol from an attack by a mob of Trump supporters during the January 6 insurrection in 2021, have sued President Donald Trump over plans to create a $1.776bn settlement fund.
They sued to block anyone, including Jan. 6, 2021, rioters, from receiving payouts from a new $1.776 billion settlement fund for people who claim to be victims of politically motivated prosecutions.
The plaintiffs suing Trump over the fund are Metropolitan Police Department officer Daniel Hodges and former U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn, who is running in Maryland for a seat in Congress. Hodges and Dunn both testified before Congress about their harrowing experiences on Jan. 6.
The lawsuit claims the government’s “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is an illegal slush fund that Trump will use to “finance the insurrectionists and paramilitary groups that commit violence in his name.” It describes the fund’s creation as “the most brazen act of presidential corruption this century” and calls for dissolving it. “No statute authorizes its creation, the settlement on which it is premised is a corrupt sham, and its design violates the Constitution and federal law,” the suit said.
The officers claim the fund “encourages those who enacted violence in the President’s name to continue to do so.” “Dunn and Hodges already face credible threats of death and violence on regular basis; the Fund substantially increases the danger,” the suit alleges.
The officers’ Attorneys filed the federal lawsuit a day after Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the fund’s creation during a congressional hearing.
Blanche, a Personal Attorney for President Donald Trump before joining the Justice Department, wouldn’t rule out the possibility that rioters who assaulted police on Jan. 6 would be eligible for fund payouts.
The fund stems from a settlement of Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns. It’s designed to compensate those who believe they were mistreated by prior administrations’ Justice Department. Decisions on payouts will be made by a five-member commission appointed by the Attorney General.
More than 100 police officers were injured during the Capitol riot. Over 1,600 people were charged with Jan. 6-related crimes, but Trump used his pardon powers to erase all of those cases in a sweeping act of clemency last year.
Dunn and Hodges both defended the west front of the US Capitol during the insurrection attempt on 6 January 2021. One rioter attempted to gouge Hodges’ eyes, and the officer was later seen in infamous video footage nearly being crushed between metal doors as he attempted to prevent rioters from breaching the building. Dunn, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2024, has said he struggles with PTSD following the attack.
Blanche, Bessent Named Defendants In Lawsuit
Blanche and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also are named as defendants in the officers’ lawsuit. One of the Attorneys for the officers is Brendan Ballou, a former Justice Department prosecutor who handled Jan. 6 cases.
On Tuesday, members of Congress peppered Blanche with questions about the fund. He described it as “unusual” but not unprecedented.
Blanche failed to acknowledge that Trump’s Justice Department has investigated and prosecuted some of the Republican president’s political enemies, including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
In the hearing, Blanche refused to rule out that January 6 rioters would receive payouts. He said that it was up to the commissioners of the fund, whom he will appoint and Trump can fire at any time.
Reporters asked Trump on May 18 about the possibility that January 6 rioters would receive money from the fund, and the president defended the possibility.
“They’ve been weaponized. They’ve been in some cases imprisoned wrongly. They paid legal fees that they didn’t have. They’ve gone bankrupt. Their lives have been destroyed. And they turned out to be right.”
Donald Trump
US Vice President JD Vance similarly refused to rule out the possibility that Capitol rioters could get money from the fund during a White House press briefing on Tuesday, but the Vice President added that anyone is welcome to apply, including Hunter Biden, former President Joe Biden’s son.
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