Trump Administration's $1.8 Billion Fund Faces Second Federal Lawsuit

The Trump administration's $1.8 billion compensation fund to pay those who claim they were targeted by the Biden administration is now at the center of two federal lawsuits. A coalition of nonprofits and individuals, including a former Jan. 6 prosecutor, filed a complaint Friday in the Eastern District of Virginia.

" "Created following a collusive agreement between the President and his own administration, this Fund has no congressional authorization, no basis in law, and no accountability," the lawsuit said. The new suit comes two days after former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Department Officer Daniel Hodges, who both defended the U.S. Capitol in 2021 during the Jan.

6 attack, filed a similar lawsuit in D.C. asking a judge to halt the creation and funding of the fund.

Friday's lawsuit was brought by a former federal prosecutor who brought Jan. 6 cases, a law professor who was acquitted after being charged for his actions during an immigration raid, the National Abortion Federation, the nonprofit Common Cause, and the City of New Haven, Connecticut.

"Since its inception, this fund has been on a collision course with the United States Constitution," the lawsuit said. The Department of Justice's launch of the "Anti-Weaponization Fund" -- in exchange for President dropping his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS and two other civil claims -- has sparked accusations of "collusive litigation" and a bipartisan uproar over the possible use of taxpayer money to pay rioters who attacked the Capitol on Jan.

6.

While Trump previously said he was not involved in the creation of the fund, he took to social media on Friday to defend the use of taxpayer money in that manner. "I gave up a lot of money in allowing the just announced Anti-Weaponization Fund to go forward.

I could have settled my case, including the illegal release of my Tax Returns and the equally illegal BREAK IN of Mar-a-Lago, for an absolute fortune. " Trump wrote. Friday's lawsuit is also alleging that the use of the federal Judgment Fund -- an unlimited appropriation used by the federal government to pay court judgments and settlements -- to create the "Anti-Weaponization Fund" is an unlawful end-run around Congress' authority to appropriate money.

Both lawsuits precede the establishment of the fund itself, which, according to the settlement agreement between Trump and the DOJ, is to be created by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche within 30 days. As part of the arrangement, Blanche is to appoint a five-commissioner committee to oversee claims.