Topline
Two D.C. police officers who were present at the Jan. 6 Capitol riots sued to block the Trump administration’s planned $1.8 billion fund designed to compensate victims of so-called “weaponization” of the Justice Department, alleging the fund is a “corrupt sham” that could support organizations like militias making “credible death threats” against them.
D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges, left, and former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, right, filed the lawsuit on Wednesday.
CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Key Facts
The suit was filed by retired Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who is running for Congress in Maryland, and Metropolitan Police Department Officer Daniel Hodges, both of whom testified before Congress about the attacks.
Dunn and Hodges claim they have been “harrassed” by Capitol rioters since testifying, and have been facing “persistent threats of violence” since Trump issued broad pardons for Jan. 6 rioters after returning to office.
The complaint details multiple threats sent to Dunn and Hodges, as well as confrontations with groups like the Proud Boys.
The suit claims the fund will “compensate and empower the very people making those threats” and grant them “legal imprimatur”—or approval for their actions during the riot.
Key Background
The Trump administration announced the $1.8 billion fund on Monday as part of a settlement for dropping his lawsuit against the IRS—a suit that was already under legal scrutiny and was potentially facing dismissal. The police officers’ suit calls the original lawsuit “frivolous” because Trump, as president, was in control of the government agency he was suing. The suit also contends the funds “will be used, among other purposes, to pay the nearly 1,600 people charged with attacking the Capitol on January 6, 2021.” Trump administration officials have been noncommittal on ruling out individuals for payments who were charged with crimes against police officers during the riots. Testifying before Congress on Tuesday, Blanche said an independent five-member commission would make decisions about who received funds, and anybody who “believe they were a victim of weaponization” could apply. When pressed Tuesday about whether Jan. 6 defendants who assaulted police officers during the riot would get payouts, Vice President JD Vance said “we’re going to look at everything case-by-case.” Speaking at the White House press briefing on Tuesday, Vance told reporters “there are people who, I don’t know their individual circumstances, and I don’t rule things out categorically when I know nothing about a person’s individual circumstances.”