While it has been widely reported that President Donald Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund is dead, experts are pointing out that the White House may have another tool at its disposal for paying convicted January 6 insurrectionists that essentially amounts to a “bottomless pit of money.”According to NBC News, the Judgement Fund allows the Justice Department to settle legal claims made against the government. Originally created to “eliminate the procedural burdens involved in getting an appropriation from Congress to pay a particular judgment,” the “bottomless pit of money” could allow J6ers to be paid by filing formal claims that only require the approval of a single DOJ official. Critics have long warned of its potential for misuse by the executive branch, arguing that Congress should place guardrails around how payouts are issued. Trump allies at the Justice Department have previously suggested the idea of using the fund, such as Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, who recently noted that he already has the authority “to settle any claim that is brought against the United States of America.” He raised the topic while discussing Trump’s controversial “anti-weaponization” fund, which bipartisan critics have decried as a “slush fund” for criminals. Woodward claimed that the “anti-weaponization” fund would actually have more accountability than the Judgement Fund, as the former is overseen by five people rather than one. But as NBC News notes, those five commissioners would be appointed by Trump and could be fired at will. While the new fund has received strong pushback from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has argued that the “victims” of the Biden administration should be paid. In a recent post, he seemed to raise the idea of using the Judgement Fund to such ends, writing, “We have a legal system already in place for people to make claims against the government. That does not need to be reinvented.”Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has told Congress that the Justice Department was “not moving forward” with the $1.8 billion fund, though as many have noted, the DOJ has merely agreed to adhere to a judge’s temporary delay order, not to end the effort entirely. The president’s statements on the matter have made it seem likely that the White House will continue to push for it. According to NBC News, “Trump said Wednesday that he didn’t know if the ‘anti-weaponization’ fund was dead or just on hold, but he called it ‘a beautiful thing’ that he loved and thought was ‘so important.’”A number of Trump allies have already received payouts through the Judgement Fund, including Mike Flynn and Carter Page. What’s more, “The Trump administration has already paid settlements to some of those involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. The family of Ashli Babbitt — who was shot and killed after she jumped through a broken window of the House Speaker’s Lobby — received just under $5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by her family.” According to NBC News, "Hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants have already signed up with lawyers to seek compensation from the Justice Department. Nine Jan. 6 participants filed a lawsuit this week seeking more than $1 million each related to their ‘injuries and losses relating to the protest on January 6, 2021.’”
