Jan. 6 officers sue to block Trump’s $1.8 billion fund

Two officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 asked a federal judge Tuesday to freeze a Trump administration fund they say could end up financing people tied to the attack. Former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Department Officer Daniel Hodges filed suit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., challenging the $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund as illegal and warning that it amounts to a taxpayer-backed reward system for “insurrectionists” and other violent actors.

The complaint targets President Donald Trump, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Dunn and Hodges argue the fund rests on a “corrupt sham” settlement and that no statute authorizes the government to create it. The fund was announced by the Justice Department on Monday, May 18, 2026, after Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and the Trump Organization dropped their $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department over the 2019 leak of Trump’s tax returns.

At the center of the dispute is not just the money, but who could get it and who gets to decide. Blanche said anyone can apply if they believe they were a victim of “weaponization,” and he did not rule out that people convicted of violence in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot could be considered. The settlement provides for five commissioners appointed by Blanche to decide payouts, but the administration has not announced who they are or laid out a clear public process for screening claims. Blanche also said the fund was “unusual” but not unprecedented, and even suggested Hunter Biden could apply.

Dunn and Hodges say the stakes are personal as well as constitutional. Both have described repeated harassment and death threats after speaking publicly about their injuries and the attack. Their suit argues that opening a compensation pipeline with little disclosure or outside oversight could encourage more violence by signaling that rioters, paramilitary groups, and their supporters might profit from political extremism after the fact.

The filing landed as Congress began pressing for answers. Sen. Chris Coons questioned Blanche on May 19 about whether Trump family members, campaign donors, Oath Keepers and Proud Boys could receive taxpayer-funded payouts, and Blanche would not commit to excluding them. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he was “not a big fan” of the fund, while Vice President JD Vance said the administration was not trying to pay people who attacked police officers, but added that cases would be handled individually. The suit now puts a judge at the center of a broader fight over whether one administration can create a multibillion-dollar compensation system without clear congressional authorization, and whether a settlement can be used to build a fund with consequences far beyond the tax case that spawned it.