By U.S. Senate Judiciary Rankings Democrat Dick Durbin of Illinois and former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn (R) at a press conference on Capitol Hill opposing the Trump administration’s $1.776 billion “counter-gun” fund, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democrats, police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection, and their lawyers spoke out Tuesday against the Trump administration’s proposed $1.776 billion “counter-gun” fund.
The press conference, organized by liberal litigation groups Public Citizen and Common Cause, came after Senate Democrats piled pressure on their Republican counterparts struggling to pass the immigration budget reconciliation bill with just a few votes.
Democrats plan to introduce multiple amendments proposing barriers to the fund if and when Senate Republicans bring to the floor the $72 billion immigration package that President Donald Trump says is expected to be on his desk by June 1.
“The idea that we would create a fund to provide some relief for the beating cops on Capitol Hill is outrageous to me because I think the Republican Party would even consider it,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“That’s why we’re making every effort to secure a record number of votes against this slush fund,” said Durbin, R-Ill., as he stood behind him former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who is running for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives in Maryland.
Dunn, along with former WA Metropolitan Police officer Daniel Hodges, who also attended the news conference, are sue Trump administration over the fund. Dunn and Hodges were sent to the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and Hodges described in the complaint how he thought he was going to die when rioters attacked him.
“Defeat the police, support Donald Trump and get paid,” Dunn said. “Cause an insurrection, make money. I believe it’s Donald Trump who puts his mob on duty.”
Trump pardoned nearly all of the defendants charged with attacking the Capitol that day and commuted the prison sentences of more than a dozen people involved in planning the attack.
During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly referred to rioters as “patriots” and accused the Biden administration of weaponizing the Justice Department.
Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said the fund is not intended for those accused of the Jan. 6 attack and that anyone, regardless of political affiliation, can “be heard and seek redress.”
ZUS settlement
The Department of Justice announced the amount of $1.776 billion fund On May 18, on condition that Trump withdraws his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his 2019 tax returns.
A day later, the Justice Department issued another order a statement that Trump and his family will be forever free from government investigations, including tax audits, as part of Trump’s voluntary dismissal of the lawsuit.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island, said the Justice Department is now facing “real pressure and the Trumpsters are actually starting to say they may have to ditch their beating cop fund.”
Whitehouse, another senior member of the Judiciary Committee, also sharply criticized the Justice Department’s order indefinitely exempting Trump family members from any future tax audits.
“Even if they get rid of the crooked cop beating fund, even if they get rid of the crooked Trump family tax amnesty, there is one very interesting thing that remains, and that is the question of whether the crooked Trumpsters committed fraud in court,” Whitehouse said.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams of the Southern District of Florida reopened Trump’s May 29 IRS case follows a filing by 35 former federal judges who claimed the Justice Department “defrauded” the court by not sharing details of the “counter-gun” fund with the judge.
The government has until June 12 to respond.
The future of the fund is unclear
The Department of Justice announced on social media on Monday post the administration would comply with a separate transient court order to withhold the fund, but did not respond to the States Newsroom on Tuesday. reports that the department was planning to completely eliminate the fund in the face of intense scrutiny, even from Republicans.
Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said during the event that the organization is awaiting further details from the Department of Justice.
“We trust, but we verify, which is why we have requested that the Department of Justice send us a response today asking for confirmation that it has taken a number of steps to comply with this order,” Perryman said. “We have also asked them to confirm the status of the fund as it appears they are leaking that they are somehow abandoning the fund.”
Democracy Forward represents multiple plaintiffs in the case: lawsuit is questioning a nearly $1.8 billion fund, including a former Justice Department prosecutor who was fired on Jan. 6 and a university professor who was charged with a crime and then acquitted by a jury for his role in a protest against the 2025 immigration raid.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in the Eastern District of Virginia on May 29 ordered The Department of Justice, the Department of the Treasury and other senior government officials from taking any additional action to establish or make contributions from the Fund.
