May 20, 2026 12:31 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two police officers who helped defend the U.S. Capitol from an attack by a mob of Trump supporters sued on Wednesday to block anyone — including Jan. 6, 2021, rioters — from receiving payouts from a new $1.776 billion settlement fund for people who claim to be victims of politically motivated prosecutions.
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The officers' attorneys filed the federal lawsuit a day after Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the fund's creation during a congressional hearing. Blanche, a personal attorney for President Donald Trump before joining the Justice Department, wouldn't rule out the possibility that rioters who assaulted police on Jan. 6 would be eligible for fund payouts.
The lawsuit claims the government's "Anti-Weaponization Fund" is an illegal slush fund that Trump will use to "finance the insurrectionists and paramilitary groups that commit violence in his name." It describes the fund's creation as "the most brazen act of presidential corruption this century" and calls for dissolving it.
