Two police officers who protected the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot sued President Donald Trump on Wednesday, seeking to block a new $1.8 billion “legal” fund created by the Justice Department to compensate Trump supporters who they say were victims of prosecutorial overreach.
“In the most brazen act of presidential corruption of this century, President Donald J. Trump created a $1.776 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund to fund insurgent and militia groups that commit violence in his name,” the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., says.
“This fund, named the ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund,’ is illegal,” the lawsuit alleges.
“There is no law authorizing its enactment, the settlement upon which it is based is a corrupt sham, and its design violates the Constitution and federal law.”
The two plaintiffs in the civil lawsuit are Harry Dunn, a former U.S. Capitol Police officer, and Daniel Hodges, an active police officer with the Washington Metropolitan Police Department. In addition to Mr. Trump, the defendants in the lawsuit include Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
D.C. Metropolitan Police Department Police Officer Daniel Hodges (left), U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn (right), and former D.C. Metropolitan Police Department Police Officer Michael Fanone arrive at the Special Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol to present unreleased material and hear witness testimony Thursday, June 9, 2022, in Cannonville.
Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call Inc. | Getty Images
Dunn and Hodges were at the Capitol when a mob of Trump supporters broke in and disrupted a joint session of Congress that was meeting that day to confirm Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
The Justice Department announced Monday that Mr. Branch established the fund as part of a settlement of a $10 billion lawsuit brought by Mr. Trump, his two eldest sons, and the Trump Organization against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of Trump’s tax records by IRS officials.
Branch is a former criminal defense attorney for President Trump.
The Justice Department said the fund “provides a systematic process for hearing and redressing the claims of others who have been subjected to weapons use or other legal consequences.”
“Use of arms” and “legalization” are terms commonly used by Trump’s allies, including criminal defendants in the January 6 riot, his lawyers and legal advisers, and those targeted by Justice Department and state prosecutor investigations related to Trump’s false claims that Biden won the 2020 election due to widespread voting fraud.
“The Fund has the authority to issue a formal apology and financial relief to Plaintiffs,” the Justice Department said in a statement Monday. “Filing a claim is voluntary. There are no partisan requirements to file a claim.”
Congressional Democrats call the fund a corrupt “slush fund.”
The Justice Department posted an addendum to the settlement on its website Tuesday, saying it would protect federal tax returns filed before this week by Trump, his family, the Trump Organization, affiliated trusts and related entities from audits by the Internal Revenue Service and others.
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