Jan. 6 officers sue to block Trump administration's $1.7 billion anti-weaponization fund

Two law enforcement officers who clashed with rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, sued Wednesday to block the Trump administration's $1.7 billion anti-weaponization fund.

The fund was created this week as part of a settlement between President Trump and the federal government. Retired U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Department officer Daniel Hodges filed the lawsuit in federal court in the District of Columbia.

They asked a federal judge to rule the fund illegal and reverse any transfers the Treasury Department has made to the Justice Department to implement it.

Both officers defended the Capitol after a mob of Trump supporters tried to stop certification of the Electoral College on Jan. 6, 2021.

The Justice Department announced the $1.776 billion fund on Monday. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement that the fund would provide a process to hear and redress claims of weaponization and lawfare.

Since the announcement, attorneys representing people who claim the government was weaponized against them have begun positioning their clients for payouts.

Jan. 6 rioters, including those convicted of the most violent behavior during the attack but later pardoned by Mr. Trump, could likely apply for payments. High-profile former Trump administration and campaign officials who sued the Justice Department before reaching their own settlements may also be eligible.

Neither Blanche nor the White House has said outright that they would oppose payouts to those convicted and pardoned of assaulting law enforcement officers.

By creating the fund, funding it, and authorizing claim criteria that will allow payments to, among others, Proud Boys and Jan. 6 rioters, the defendants have inflicted concrete harms on Dunn and Hodges, the officers argued in their complaint.

The fund's existence sends a clear message that those who enact violence in President Trump's name will not just avoid punishment but will be rewarded, the complaint said.

The fund creates enormous physical dangers for the officers, who risked their lives on Jan. 6, 2021, and continue to do so by refusing to let that day be forgotten, wrote Brendan Ballou, founder of the Public Integrity Project, who represents the officers.

The fund is illegal, and the defendants must be prohibited from transferring money to it, Ballou wrote.