“The Fund is stunningly, blindingly illegal, and the defendants must be prohibited from transferring money to this corrupt and illegal monstrosity,” the lawsuit says.
Two federal law enforcement officers who clashed with rioters at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, have filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent President Donald Trump from establishing a $1.7 billion “anti-weaponization fund” for persons purportedly persecuted by the Biden administration.
According to CBS News, the lawsuit was filed earlier this week in a Washington, D.C.-based federal court. In legal filings, attorneys for the two plaintiffs—identified as U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, and Metropolitan Police Department Officer Daniel Hodges—asked the court to find the creation of the fund unlawful and reverse any financial transfers made toward its establishment.
Dunn and Hodges, notes CBS News, both helped defend the U.S. Capitol from pro-Trump rioters, who’d stormed the grounds in an attempt to prevent Congress from certifying the result of the 2020 presidential election.
The fund was announced earlier this week as a proposed resolution to President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. Trump’s lawsuit accused the IRS of failing to protect his confidential tax information, elements of which were leaked by a disgruntled contractor. Although the president had initially sought close to $10 billion in damages, he later asked that the federal government establish a fund for persons subject to political persecution under the Biden administration.
Neither the White House nor the Justice Department has committed to preventing payouts to people convicted of committing crimes on January 6, including those who assaulted law enforcement officers.
“By creating the Anti-Weaponization Fund, funding it, and authorizing claim criteria that will allow it to make payments to, among others, Proud Boys and January 6 rioters, Defendants have inflicted concrete and cognizable harms on Plaintiffs Dunn and Hodges,” the lawsuit alleges. “The Fund’s mere existence sends a clear and chilling message: those who enact violence in President Trump’s name will not just avoid punishment, they will be rewarded with riches.”
“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 Public Integrity Project founder Brendan Ballou, whose organization is representing the plaintiffs. “The Fund is stunningly, blindingly illegal, and the defendants must be prohibited from transferring money to this corrupt and illegal monstrosity.”
Aside from authorizing the creation of a fund, Trump’s settlement with the federal government also prohibits the Internal Revenue Service from investigating his personal finances and restricts the agency’s ability to audit him, his family members, and business interests.
Sources
2 officers in Jan. 6 riot sue to block DOJ “anti-weaponization” fund
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