US Capitol officers sue to block $1.8 billion fund that could aid Jan. 6 attackers

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on May 20, 2026

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Two police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, sued Wednesday to block President Donald Trump's $1.8 billion self-proclaimed “anti-weaponization” fund that could compensate their attackers.

Former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Department officer Daniel Hodges say Trump and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche illegally set up the fund that will dole out cash payouts to those who claim they were treated unfairly by authorities, without authorization of Congress or any judicial oversight.

“Trump has created a slush fund to finance the insurrectionists and paramilitary groups that commit violence in his name,” the 27-page suit charges. “The fund will directly finance the violent operations of rioters, paramilitaries, and their supporters who threatened (the officers’) lives that day, and continue to do so.”

Dunn, who is running for Congress as a Democrat, and Hodges claim the White House is using the fund to illegally hand taxpayer cash to his supporters by framing the payouts as restitution for supposed politically motivated prosecution.

“Dunn and Hodges did not back down on January 6. Instead, they held the line to defend democracy and the rule of law,” the suit says. “They bring this case to do so once again.”

The officers filed the federal lawsuit a day after Blanche defended the fund’s creation during a testy congressional hearing where Democrats slammed the fund as an outrageous scam.

Blanche, a personal lawyer for Trump before joining the Justice Department, refused to rule out the possibility that rioters who assaulted police on Jan. 6 and attack plotters would be eligible for fund payouts.

More than 100 police officers were injured during the Capitol riot. Over 1,600 people were charged with Jan. 6-related crimes, but Trump used his pardon powers to erase all of those cases in a sweeping act of clemency last year.

Hodges and Dunn have both testified before Congress about their harrowing experiences on Jan. 6. Dunn spoke of racist attackers spewing insults and threatening to kill him as he sought to keep them away from officials including perceived Trump enemies like then-Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Videos captured a rioter ripping a mask off Hodges as he screamed in pain during a fight for control of a tunnel entrance.

Trump and Blanche portray the creation of the fund as a settlement of the president’s $10 billion lawsuit against his administration’s Internal Revenue Service. Trump dropped the suit after the federal judge overseeing the case suggested it could be a sham because Trump was effectively suing himself.

The White House claims Trump and his relatives won’t apply for any of the cash in the fund.

But the Trumps will richly benefit from the purported settlement, which includes assurances that the IRS won’t investigate or audit Trump or his relatives and companies, and won’t pursue a hefty potential $100 million penalty stemming from accusations of underpaid federal taxes.

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