NEWS'Stench of Corruption': Donald Trump Sparks Outrage After Backing $1.7 Billion 'Slush Fund' Aiding January 6 Capitol Rioters
Donald Trump sparked backlash for showing support toward a $1.7 billion bill that could aid Capitol rioters.
May 19 2026, Published 6:15 p.m. ET
Donald Trump sparked outrage after voicing his support for a taxpayer-backed $1.7 billion fund that would provide aid to January 6 Capitol rioters.
“Well, it’s been very well received, I have to tell you,” Trump, 79, claimed during a healthcare affordability event at the White House on Monday, May 18. "I wasn’t involved in the whole creation of it, and the negotiation. But this is reimbursing people that were horribly treated, horribly treated, it’s anti-weaponization. They’ve been weaponized."
Donald Trump Showed Support for the Anti-Weaponization Fund'
The Anti-Weaponization Fund was created in relation to a settlement Donald Trump reached in his lawsuit with the IRS.
The $1.7 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” was introduced by the Justice Department on Monday, May 18, to compensate individuals who say they were wrongly targeted by the Biden administration.
The fund's creation followed a settlement in Trump's now-withdrawn $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS, where the president sued the agency for $10 million for the leak of his tax returns, among other grievances.
The Anti-Weaponization Fund Has Seen Widespread Disapproval
Donald Trump claimed the bill would help people who were 'imprisoned wrongly.'
“They’ve been, in some cases, imprisoned wrongly,” Trump continued. “They paid legal fees that they didn’t have. They’ve gone bankrupt, their lives have been destroyed. And they turned out to be right. I mean, it was a terrible period of time in the history of our country. And they worked on it... I know the Justice Department, it’s really been working on it very hard.”
The motion has seen disapproval from House Democrats, who labeled the announcement as "unconstitutional."
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The Fund Was Criticized for Deeping the 'Stench of Corruption'
House Democrats have vocally opposed the fund.
“This case is nothing but a racket designed to take $1.7 billion of taxpayer dollars out of the Treasury and pour it into a huge slush fund for Trump... to hand out to his private militia of insurrectionists, rioters, and white supremacists, including those who brutally beat police officers on January 6, 2021, and sycophant accomplices to his election stealing schemes,” Ranking Member Jamie Raskin said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard Neal slammed the deal, saying it "deepens the stench of corruption."
Lisa Rinna Compared Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler
'The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' star Lisa Rinna blasted Donald Trump on social media.
Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Rinna also used her platform to blast the deal and likened the president to Adolf Hitler.
"How do you feel about Trump taking $1.7 billion of taxpayer money, OUR money... to pay the criminals from January 6 and whoever he wants, however he wants — how do you feel about that?" the reality star, 62, asked her followers on Monday, May 18, via her Instagram Stories.
She then compared Trump to other dictators, adding, "Actually, Hitler and Mussolini did it to pay their private armies, I think that's what's going on here... just sayin," Rinna added alongside an emoji of a person shrugging their shoulders.
