Public Integrity Project Represents January 6 Officers To Stop Trump’s Slush Fund

Today, U.S. Capitol Police Officer (Ret.) Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Department Officer Daniel Hodges filed a federal lawsuit seeking to dissolve the so-called "Anti-Weaponization Fund," a nearly $1.8 billion fund that the Department of Justice announced on May 18. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against President Trump, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Officers Dunn and Hodges risked their lives defending the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Since that day, both have faced persistent and credible threats of violence from January 6 rioters and members of paramilitary groups like the Proud Boys.

The Anti-Weaponization Fund was created through the settlement of Trump v. IRS, a lawsuit in which President Trump and his family sued their own administration for $10 billion over the leak of their tax returns. Money from the fund will go to January 6 rioters and paramilitary groups, among other beneficiaries.

Officers Dunn and Hodges bring this suit because these payments can specifically be used to fund January 6 rioters’ violent actions, putting Officers Dunn and Hodges in physical danger. This fund also rewards rioters for committing violence in the President’s name. If the President literally pays rioters to harm his enemies, there is little incentive for them to do anything else.

The complaint alleges that the fund is illegal on multiple grounds: that DOJ had no statutory authority to create a new federal commission, that the underlying settlement was a sham that did not meet the legal requirements for payment from the federal Judgment Fund, and that using taxpayer money to pay the debts of insurrectionists violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s prohibition on payments for debts incurred in aid of insurrections

“This Fund creates enormous physical dangers for Officers Dunn and Hodges, who risked their lives on January 6, 2021, and who continue to do so by refusing to let that day be forgotten,” said Brendan Ballou, founder of the Public Integrity Project. “The Fund is stunningly, blindingly illegal, and the defendants must be prohibited from transferring money to this corrupt and illegal monstrosity.”

The lawsuit asks the court to declare the fund unlawful, set it aside, and reverse any transfers already made.