Jan. 6 Cops Respond to Trump's $1.8B Payout Fund With Lawsuit

A fresh legal fight over Jan. 6 is targeting not rioters, but a new Trump administration fund. Two officers who defended the Capitol that day have filed suit to halt a nearly $1.8 billion program they say is designed to financially reward those who attacked it, reports the New York Times. Former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn and Washington, DC, officer Daniel Hodges accuse President Trump and top officials of creating an unauthorized "slush fund to finance the insurrectionists and paramilitary groups that commit violence in his name" without congressional approval. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are named as co-defendants.

The administration describes the effort as compensation for people it claims were over-prosecuted by the Biden Justice Department, but critics, including some Republicans, argue it's a taxpayer-funded cash conduit to Trump allies. The lawsuit asserts that reporting shows the money will help nearly 1,600 people charged in connection with the Capitol assault—many of whom Trump has already pardoned. Blanche on Tuesday refused to rule out that the money wouldn't be made available to rioters, notes the AP. Dunn, now running for Congress as a Democrat in Maryland, and Hodges both previously testified before lawmakers about the violence that injured more than 150 officers on Jan. 6, 2021. Video showed a rioter ripping a mask off Hodges as he was pinned against a door during a melee in a tunnel to the Capitol.