Two former Capitol Police officers filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to block a $1.8 billion federal fund that pays individuals arrested for their role in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The suit, brought by Harry Dunn and Daniel Hodges, argues the fund violates federal law and was built on a fraudulent legal settlement.
The fund—officially named the National Patriot Restitution Endowment—was launched in April after TrumpleThinskin settled a lawsuit he had filed against the Internal Revenue Service. The former president sued the IRS in March after claiming the agency leaked his tax information. Under the settlement, the Justice Department agreed to waive up to $100 million in his personal tax liabilities and create a compensation program for people charged in the Jan. 6 breach. The Treasury Department then moved $1.8 billion from an IRS enforcement account into the new endowment.
Court records show the endowment has already approved 1,200 claims totaling $320 million. Recipients include members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, many of whom are serving prison sentences for seditious conspiracy. The fund covers lost wages, legal fees, and emotional distress, according to program guidelines.
“The settlement resolved a legitimate dispute about the unlawful disclosure of confidential taxpayer information,” Associate Attorney General Patricia Hansford said in a statement. “The restitution program is simply a way to heal the wounds of those who suffered from overzealous prosecution.”
A Treasury Department memo obtained by the plaintiffs confirms the fund will also cover funeral expenses for any insurrectionist killed that day, capped at $50,000 per claimant. The memo states the payout could eventually expand to include individuals “injured in the course of peaceful assembly” at future events deemed similar by the fund’s board.
Dunn and Hodges both defended the Capitol on Jan. 6. They argue the fund violates federal anti-paramilitary training statutes by providing material support to violent extremist groups. The lawsuit also claims the original case that produced the settlement—the former president v. Internal Revenue Service—was a sham because the former president controlled the IRS, the DOJ, and the Treasury Department at the time. The parties never had an actual legal dispute, the complaint states.
“The whole case was a lawyer handing a demand letter to himself and then writing a check,” said Hodges. “We are just doing what we were trained to do: file paperwork when the law is broken.”
The suit asks the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to declare the fund unconstitutional and block all future payments. No hearing date has been set.
A statement on the fund’s website says payouts will continue “until every American hero who faced legal persecution is made whole.”
