WASHINGTON — Two police officers who helped defend the U.S. Capitol from an attack by a mob of President Donald Trump's supporters sued on Wednesday 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 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 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 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 says.
The fund stems from a settlement of Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS 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. Nearly 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.
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. Videos captured a rioter ripping a mask off Hodges as he was pinned against a door during a fight for control of a tunnel entrance.
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.
A commission, whose members will be chosen by Blanche but have not yet been announced, will be charged with deciding who gets paid and how much.
Blanche said in a CNN interview on Wednesday that the board will have to consider the person's actions, among other factors, when deciding whether to give them money. But the attorney general added: "Whether the commissioners will give that person money — that claimant — it's up to them."
Blanche said "it's abhorrent" to harm law enforcement, but added that "people that hurt police get money all the time" from suing the government. He dismissed backlash to the fund as "fake outrage."
Blanche and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also are named as defendants in the officers' lawsuit. Spokespeople for the Justice and Treasury departments didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on the suit.
One of the attorneys for the officers is Brendan Ballou, a former Justice Department prosecutor who handled Jan. 6 cases.
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