By Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff
WASHINGTON, June 12 (Reuters) - While the Justice Department has said it has abandoned plans for President Donald Trump's proposed $1.8 billion "weaponization" fund, some of his allies are shifting focus to a different way to make payouts to his supporters, including those who took part in the January 6, 2021, riot on the U.S. Capitol.
The most viable path, according to Trump allies and legal experts, may involve compensating these loyalists under a 1946 law called the Federal
Tort Claims Act. That measure lets people file administrative claims - and subsequent lawsuits - against the U.S. government for alleged wrongdoing, which can then be settled out of court.
"At my level, the fund is dead," Stanley Woodward, the third-ranking official at the Justice Department, said in an interview. "If somebody wants to submit a claim against the government and sue us, they can still do that."
The Republican president repeatedly has expressed support for federal payouts to supporters who he has portrayed as being targeted by a "weaponized" U.S. government under his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden.
But the "anti-weaponization" fund, crafted as part of a legal settlement between Trump and the Justice Department to resolve his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over allegedly mishandling his tax records, was put on hold amid fierce opposition from Republicans in Congress. Trump critics derided it as a slush fund to reward supporters with taxpayer money.
Hundreds of people who were prosecuted after taking part in the Capitol attack, which was a failed bid by Trump supporters to prevent Congress from certifying his 2020 election loss to Biden, already have filed claims, and at least 10 have sued the government for damages - so far with little response.
The strategy has long been in the works. Conservative lawyers debated the plan during a previously unreported strategy session at the 2024 Republican National Convention, according to longtime Trump ally Michael Caputo, who attended the meeting.
Other payout options are still being explored, according to Caputo, who helped lead "anti-weaponization" efforts in Trump's 2024 election campaign and filed the first known claim under the now-abandoned "weaponization" fund.
"I've heard no indication that they've slowed down on trying to get victims paid," Caputo said, adding that administration officials have told him to "watch this space."
Caputo, who served as a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson during Trump's first term, asked Blanche for $2.7 million in "restitution" over investigations by the Biden administration and former special counsel Robert Mueller.
"It's the most logistically feasible method," said Patrick Jaicomo, a senior attorney at the libertarian legal group Institute for Justice who specializes in Federal Tort Claims Act cases. "The government would have a lot of flexibility."
Trump's repeated support for compensating supporters he paints as victims of "weaponization" has raised the question of what avenue he may now pursue to make such payments.
Asked if there are alternative plans to provide such compensation, the White House pointed to previous comments by Trump and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche that the weaponization fund would not go forward.
"We have no additional announcements at this time and any speculation about potential future actions is just that - speculation," a White House official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. "President Trump remains committed to addressing Biden-era weaponization."
A Justice Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there is no effort to encourage people to submit these claims.
'PEOPLE SHOULD BE COMPENSATED'
Trump has accused the Biden administration and other political opponents of improperly using law enforcement, intelligence and regulatory agencies to target him and his allies. Critics have said these efforts were legally justified by actual or suspected wrongdoing by Trump and others.
Trump, for instance, gave executive clemency to his supporters who were prosecuted for their roles in the January 6 riot.
"The people were destroyed by dirty cops and by weaponization," Trump said on NBC's "Meet the Press" program aired on Sunday. "Many of those people should be compensated."
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham in a social media post backed the idea of pursuing payouts through the Federal Tort Claims Act, prompting the Justice Department's Woodward to respond with what looked like an endorsement in a since-deleted post.
"We're working on it," Woodward wrote.
Woodward later told Reuters he was trying to send a message that people who believe they were victims of government abuse continue to have a path for compensation even without the $1.8 billion fund.
FROM FRINGE IDEA TO MAINSTREAM
Financially compensating Trump allies has moved from the political fringe closer to mainstream Republican strategy.
Caputo said he was involved in conversations about finding ways to pay victims of "weaponization" dating back to October 2023.
In 1956, Congress created a permanent Judgment Fund for paying settlements of lawsuits against the federal government.
Caputo said that allies of the president and conservative lawyers discussed using this fund for payouts under the Federal Tort Claims Act "ad nauseam" during the 2024 Republican National Convention. Attendees at these discussions opposed paying violent felons, including those who assaulted police officers, according to Caputo.
The attendees viewed the Judgment Fund as a "limitless" pot of money that would avoid the political hurdles of creating a new administrative fund, Caputo said, though they acknowledged these payouts could be controversial.
Some high-profile Trump allies already have received payouts under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Michael Flynn, who briefly served as Trump's national security adviser during his first term, received a $1.25 million settlement under the statute.
Attorney Peter Ticktin said his office is representing more than 400 people who took part in the Capitol riot who have submitted Federal Tort Claims Act claims. Ticktin said he hopes the government will settle the cases before they go to court, but has not been told of any plans to do so.
"We're asking for restitution in the millions of dollars," Ticktin said, adding that he trusts that Trump and the Justice Department will ensure that his clients get paid.
'A TRAVESTY'
The administrative process for a Federal Tort Claims Act claim begins when a person files a form, known as an SF-95, alleging government wrongdoing and demanding damages.
Claims typically must be filed within two years of the incident, but January 6 defendants are arguing that the alleged wrongdoing against them constitutes ongoing harm. It remains unclear how courts or the Justice Department will treat that interpretation.
If the government agrees to the amount requested, officials can authorize payment before a judge is assigned, Jaicomo said, meaning no judge would review the payment.
If the government does not settle, claimants can file a lawsuit, at which point a judge would begin overseeing the case. Ticktin has already filed 10 lawsuits and said he plans to file hundreds more.
Rupa Bhattacharyya, a former Justice Department official who oversaw the compensation fund for victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, said department attorneys typically settle only when they face a high risk of losing at trial, though they retain broad discretion on settlements including in January 6 cases.
"That would be a travesty because these are very defensible lawsuits," said Bhattacharyya, who served under presidents of both parties. "It would violate the purpose and spirit of the judgment fund - but it is unlikely it would violate the text of the law."
(Reporting by Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff. Editing by Michael Learmonth and Will Dunham)
