Senate Republicans left Congress today for a month-long recess, following an explosive meeting in which 25 of them told acting Attorney General Todd Blanche that they opposed President Donald Trump’s proposed $1.8 billion slush fund to compensate alleged victims targeted by “political weaponization” from former-President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice.
These so-called “victims” would include rioters arrested for storming the Capitol building during the attempted January 6, 2021 insurrection. The rioters attempted to disrupt the Senate’s certification of the 2020 election results. Blanche recently claimed that even though Trump “does not stand for assaulting law enforcement,” people who injured police officers that day could still apply for the slush funds.
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According to reports, Blanche’s Thursday meeting with Senate Republicans was “incredibly hostile” and “didn’t go well” — one person familiar with the meeting called it a “s**t show.” CNN’s Manu Raju said that “most senators voiced opposition to the fund — hardly any came to its defense.”
Meanwhile, unsavory Trump supporters have come out of the woodwork and pledged to apply for funds, including Enrique Tarrio, a leader of the pro-fascist organization The Proud Boys, and infamous election conspiracy theorist, My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell. Even disgraced former-Rep. George Santos (R-NY) has said he will apply.
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Two police officers attacked during the riots filed a lawsuit in federal court to stop the fund from being created.
Daniel Hodges, a Capitol police officer who was repeatedly assaulted during the riots, told NPR, “Why would you pay people who attacked the police at the Capitol of the United States who tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power? Why would you pay people who wanted to assassinate the vice president? You know, the list goes on and on. It doesn’t make any sense.”
Five people died because of the insurrection, and roughly 140 police officers were injured. The police injuries included a broken spine, a lost eye, lost fingers, brain damage, and multiple cases of PTSD. While ransacking the Capitol, the rioters chanted “Hang Mike Pence,” shattered windows while trying to access congressional chambers, smeared feces in a hallway, and stole computer equipment, potentially constituting a national security breach.
Trump pardoned over 1,600 people convicted of or awaiting trial or sentencing for offenses connected to the riots — including the people who assaulted police officers.
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