Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's Stance on Payouts
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has not made a definitive commitment to deny million-dollar payouts to individuals involved in the January 6 riot, who were responsible for assaulting law enforcement officers and storming the Capitol. This comes as the Department of Justice announced a nearly $1.8 billion fund aimed at compensating Donald Trump’s allies.
Blanche emphasized that donors to the president’s campaign are not barred from applying for taxpayer money through the newly established fund. He stated, “Anybody in this country is eligible to apply if they believe they were victims,” during his testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee. This statement was made while justifying a Justice Department budget that reduces funding for domestic violence survivors.
Blanche, who previously served as Trump’s criminal defense attorney, is now overseeing the nation’s top law enforcement agency after the president removed Pam Bondi following her 14 months in the role. He announced the fund on Monday as part of a settlement following Trump’s abandonment of his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS.
“The machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American, and it is this department’s intention to make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again,” Blanche said. The fund opens a “lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.”
A five-member commission, with members appointed by Blanche, will manage the fund. Trump mentioned that the selection of recipients would depend on a committee composed of “very talented people, very highly respected people.” However, the administration’s announcement provided few details about how the fund would disburse money or determine eligibility.
Critics and watchdog groups have expressed concerns that the Trump administration is effectively distributing American taxpayers’ dollars to the president’s allies following a series of pardons and commutations for his supporters. Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen criticized Blanche, stating, “It’s hard to justify giving you any funds.” He called the fund an “outrageous, unprecedented slush fund you set up.”
Blanche defended the fund by comparing it to an Obama-era compensation fund that resolved a decades-long class-action lawsuit involving Native American farmers who faced discrimination by the federal government. However, unlike that case, the individuals likely to receive taxpayer dollars from the Trump administration’s fund have not experienced similar discrimination.
Hundreds of people were charged and convicted in connection with the mob’s assault on Congress on January 6, 2021. All of them received pardons from the president. Last month, the Justice Department moved to dismiss remaining cases and most serious convictions, completing what the president started on his first day in office.
The motions represent the latest efforts in the president’s ongoing attempts to rewrite the history of the 2020 election and downplay the violence captured on video and admitted by assailants who tried to stop members of Congress from certifying his loss. Trump himself was federally indicted for his alleged attempts to overturn election results and his failure to stop the mob, but the cases under special counsel Jack Smith were thrown out after his election in 2024.
Blanche told senators that the fund will compensate Americans after “years and years of weaponization” under the Biden administration, which the president and his allies have accused of leading a government-wide conspiracy against them. “It’s not limited to Republicans,” Blanche said. “It’s not limited to the Biden weaponization. It’s not limited in any scope to January 6, Jack Smith … There’s no limitation to the claims.”
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