{"id":22967,"date":"2026-05-19T14:47:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T14:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/todd-blanche-doesnt-rule-out-using-new-settlement-account-to-pay-out-jan-6-rioters\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T14:47:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T14:47:15","slug":"todd-blanche-doesnt-rule-out-using-new-settlement-account-to-pay-out-jan-6-rioters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/todd-blanche-doesnt-rule-out-using-new-settlement-account-to-pay-out-jan-6-rioters\/","title":{"rendered":"Todd Blanche doesn\u2019t rule out using new settlement account to pay out Jan. 6 rioters"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is not ruling out making payments to those who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as part of the Justice Department\u2019s new, $1.8 billion \u201cAnti-Weaponization Fund<\/u><\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnybody can apply,\u201d Blanche said during a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing Tuesday morning in response to a question from Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe commissioners will set rules I\u2019m sure,\u201d Blanche continued. \u201cThat\u2019s not for me to set. That\u2019s for the commissioners, and whether an individual, an Oathkeeper as you just mentioned, applies for compensation \u2026 anybody in this country can apply.\u201d<\/p>\n

These comments could confirm critics\u2019 worst fears about the rationale behind the account, which the Justice Department unveiled Monday to grant funds to individuals deemed targets of \u201cweaponization and lawfare.\u201d<\/p>\n

It came about as the result of a settlement with President Donald Trump, where he agreed to drop his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax information in exchange for the establishment of such a fund.<\/p>\n

Democrats quickly accused the administration of creating a slush fund intended to reward the president\u2019s allies, including potentially those participated in the Jan. 6 riots.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is pure theft of public funds, and rewarding individuals who committed crimes is obscene,\u201d said Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Senate appropriations subcommittee overseeing the DOJ\u2019s budget. \u201cEvery American can see through this illegal, corrupt, self-dealing scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Blanche was invited to testify on his budget request Tuesday, he quickly was in the position of having to defend and explain the new fund to members of both parties.<\/p>\n

He faced tough questions from Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine), who wanted to know whether payouts would be publicly reported. She appeared skeptical about oversight of the fund, challenging Blanche\u2019s suggestion that a commission the Justice Department plans to set up would be impartial.<\/p>\n

Blanche said the fund, though \u201cunusual,\u201d was \u201cnot unprecedented.\u201d He emphasized there would be \u201ca process that you all will get information, and there’s a FOIA process. So I very much anticipate that the claims that are awarded \u2014 the basis and the amount \u2014 will for sure be made public along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The written terms of the settlement agreement<\/u><\/a> state that these reports would, in fact, be \u201cconfidential,\u201d but Blanche further sought to reassure lawmakers by explaining that the weaponization fund would accept claims beyond those stemming from alleged abuses under the Biden administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no limitation on the claims,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is not ruling out making payments to those who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as part of the Justice Department\u2019s new, $1.8 billion \u201cAnti-Weaponization Fund.\u201d \u201cAnybody can apply,\u201d Blanche said during a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing Tuesday morning in response to a question from Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.). […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22967\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}