Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges denounced President Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” as “nakedly corrupt,” saying it would bankroll people involved in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots. Hodges also pointed to Trump
The day Daniel Hodges walked through the aftermath of Jan. 6, 2021, the injuries stayed with him. Now, he says, the shock is returning—through a new pot of money.
On Friday. Hodges. a Washington. D.C. Metropolitan Police officer who was among the scores of officers assaulted that day. said President Donald Trump is “nakedly corrupt” for creating a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund.” Hodges argued the fund will end up paying people tied to the violence that targeted him and other officers during the Capitol riots.
“It’s pretty brazen, nakedly corrupt,” Hodges said on “The Dean Obeidallah Show.”
He added that the decision did not surprise him. “Trump has been saying for years how he wants to compensate these people who tried to have him installed illegally to stop the transfer of power,” Hodges said, calling it “terrible” and “awful,” while saying it is “not out of character.”
Hodges’ anger is not abstract. He has described how, during the riots, he nearly had his eye gouged out and was almost crushed to death in a doorway by supporters. Later, he became one of four officers who testified in 2021 at the first congressional inquiry into the riots.
This week. the controversy sharpened around Trump’s finances and a deal tied to his dispute with the Internal Revenue Service. Trump sued the IRS for $10 billion in January over the unlawful release of his tax returns. but he dropped that suit last week in exchange for a $1.776 billion fund. The fund is designed to pay people who say they were unfairly targeted by the Department of Justice.
Hodges said on Friday that he and others were quickly pulled into a new legal fight over the proposal. He and U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn filed suit last week against the Department of Justice, alleging the $1.8 billion fund is illegal.
Hodges said attorney Brendan Ballou—who has tried multiple Jan. 6 cases—asked him whether he and Dunn would be willing to serve as plaintiffs. Hodges told Obeidallah he agreed immediately. “I said yeah, of course, whatever we can do to help stop this, because it’s terrible,” he said.
He called it “a horrible waste of money,” with an even darker worst-case scenario: “And in the worst, it’s giving money to, you know, domestic terrorists for any future crimes that they might want to commit.”
Obeidallah pressed Hodges on whether the fund is meant to push supporters into further action. Hodges responded that he does not see it as a genuine effort to “make people whole.” He said Trump has told the media twice that he does not think about Americans’ financial situation. and Hodges framed the payout as something else entirely.
“It’s not about making people whole,” Hodges said. “Everything is transactional with him.”
From his perspective, the point is loyalty—and leverage. “So you have to think about what he’s going to get for this and what he is getting is their loyalty. ” Hodges said. He added that Trump has a “group. this cohort” that has already demonstrated “incredible loyalty and willingness to conduct extreme violence in his name.”.
In Hodges’ telling, the strategy is to keep that cohort ready for what comes next. He said Trump wants to keep them “on retainer” for “future violence” he might need.
The fund’s critics also point to Trump’s broader actions toward Jan. 6 defendants. Trump has gone on to pardon more than 1,500 people charged with crimes related to the riots.
The thrust of Hodges’ complaint is simple: money that follows the same people who attacked him does not read as rehabilitation. It reads, he says, as repayment—designed to bind loyalty to future risk.
Daniel Hodges Jan. 6 Capitol riots anti-weaponization fund Donald Trump Department of Justice Internal Revenue Service Harry Dunn Brendan Ballou officer assaulted pardons
Wait so this is about money for Jan 6 people? Wild.
I don’t even get how they’re calling it “anti-weaponization” like that makes it better. Sounds like the same circle just with a fancy name. Also $1.8 billion is just… come on.
So the cop says it’s for the Capitol riots but isn’t it like for victims or whatever? I’m confused because I saw another headline that said it’s to protect from something else. Maybe people are just reading the title and running with it.
“Nakedly corrupt” is a crazy quote but honestly I kinda believe him after hearing all that about what happened to those officers. The article keeps talking about his eye and being crushed like it’s proof the money is connected, but like how can we know what the fund will do? Trump dropping the IRS lawsuit for that amount sounds like a deal was already coming anyway, so I’m not surprised.