Two officers in Jan. 6 riot sue to block DOJ “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,” which was created this week as part of a settlement between President Trump and the federal government. 

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the District of Columbia by retired U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Department officer Daniel Hodges, asks a federal judge to find the creation of the fund illegal and reverse any transfers that the Treasury Department has made to the Justice Department to implement it.

Both Dunn and Hodges defended the U.S. Capitol after a mob of Trump supporters attempted to stop the certification of the Electoral College on Jan. 6, 2021. 

The fund was announced Monday by the Justice Department. In a statement announcing the $1.776 billion fund, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the fund would “provide a systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare.” 

“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 officers argued in their complaint. “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,” wrote Public Integrity Project founder Brendan Ballou, who is representing the officers. “The Fund is stunningly, blindingly illegal, and the defendants must be prohibited from transferring money to this corrupt and illegal monstrosity.”