Left: Former U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Harry Dunn hands former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith a police patch after the House Judiciary Committee hearing about his investigations into President Donald Trump at the Capitol in Washington, on Jan. 22, 2026. Looking on at center is Washington Metropolitan Police officer Daniel Hodges (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin). Right: President Trump speaks with reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, Thursday, April 16, 2026, in Washington (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta).
The "mere existence" of President Donald Trump's so-called $1.776B "settlement" to potentially pay off supporters who attacked police officers on Jan. 6 only makes it more likely that those officers will receive more death threats, so they have standing to sue, a new complaint alleges.
Trump made no secret about how "awfully strange" it was that he effectively sued himself to reap the benefit of billions of dollars in taxpayer funds, to right claimed wrongs against himself and MAGA true believers who were investigated civilly or criminally, prosecuted, and jailed or imprisoned during President Joe Biden's lone term.
Vice President JD Vance has tried to downplay the prospect of paying Jan. 6 pardon recipients by making the case that even Hunter Biden, who memorably failed to convince judges his father's DOJ vindictively or selectively prosecuted him, could stake a claim to a piece of the "anti-weaponization" fund pie.
When questioned why Jan. 6 rioters convicted of attacking police officers should be eligible for payouts, Vance said the fund is really "about compensating Americans for the lawfare that we saw under the last administration."
"And by the way, anybody can apply for it," he said, mentioning Hunter Biden and alluding to the fact that the agreement, as publicized by the DOJ, is extraordinarily broad in its scope.
On Wednesday, former U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges filed suit in Washington, D.C., to block the "most brazen act of presidential corruption this century[.]"
"Trump has created a $1.776 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund to finance the insurrectionists and paramilitary groups that commit violence in his name," the court filing began. "The fund, styled the 'Anti-Weaponization Fund,' is illegal. No statute authorizes its creation, the settlement on which it is premised is a corrupt sham, and its design violates the Constitution and federal law."
In addition, the plaintiffs argued that the "very existence" of the fund is nothing more than a PR-style blitz to encourage "those who enacted violence in the President's name to continue to do so."
"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. That message, by itself, substantially increases the already sizeable risk of vigilante violence Dunn and Hodges face on a near-daily basis," the filing said. "And it encourages those who are harassing Dunn and Hodges, and sending them death threats, to up the ante. These concrete, imminent injuries, which Defendants have caused, give Plaintiffs standing."
Represented by the Public Integrity Project, the plaintiffs asked a judge to find Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche — Trump's former personal attorney — unlawfully created the fund and that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unlawfully "certif[ied] payment of $1.776 billion from the Judgment Fund to the Anti-Weaponization Fund," meaning the defendants should be blocked from making "any" payments.
The lawsuit comes as the New York Times reports the IRS created a 25-page legal memo, which detailed a would-be offensive position against Trump's $10 billion federal lawsuit against the agency in Florida.
Treasury officials reportedly saw that memo in April, a relevant detail considering the department's general counsel resigned as the DOJ and Trump worked together to sidestep judicial oversight of the case, which may have been jurisdictionally doomed.
It's yet another example of the DOJ apparently advancing Trump's agenda despite internal memoranda advising the opposite course of action.