A New York Times opinion writer warned Thursday that President Donald Trump’s new $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” has created an unprecedented mechanism for federal money to flow to paramilitary groups loyal to the president.
Noah Shachtman, a Times contributing opinion writer who covers government corruption, argued in a guest essay that the fund could “institutionalize” cronyism as an official function of the federal government — and worse, finance the violent supporters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6.
“The primary risk is that this money is going to be used to fund paramilitary organizations that are loyal to the president. The financial support for violence, that is going to be the most important thing, and it’s fundamentally new and different from, say, the Qatari jet,” former Justice Department special counsel Brendan Ballou told Shachtman.
Shachtman noted that five members of the Proud Boys sued the government last year for $100 million, claiming “political persecution” after their convictions for Jan. 6, in which more than 140 law enforcement officers were injured. Heads of the Oath Keepers could also apply for compensation under the fund’s loose criteria.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche declined this week to assure Democratic senators that abusive felons or extremist groups would be barred from payments. The five-person commission that decides claims will be appointed entirely by Blanche, with Trump able to fire any member at will.
Ballou now represents two officers who filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday to block the fund, calling it “a taxpayer-funded slush fund to finance the insurrectionists and paramilitary groups” that attacked them.
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