Largely thanked, and now compensated? While an “Anti-Instrumentalization Fund” is making waves across the Atlantic, Vice President JD Vance and Justice Ministry No. 2 Todd Blanche have hinted that the rioters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, in Washington could benefit from this financial windfall.
Originally, Donald Trump filed a lawsuit against the American tax authority which, despite his history of tax evasion and being a very poor payer, he accuses of pursuing him for political purposes. He demands $10 billion from the American state. On Monday, the Justice Ministry announced that it had reached an agreement with the president, absolving him of any potential tax sins, as well as his sons, and the creation of a fund endowed with $1.77 billion, which will be paid out to those who claim to have been targeted under the Biden administration for supporting Donald Trump. The initiative raises doubts among lawmakers, both democrats and republicans.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (Republican) admitted Tuesday to the press that he is “not a big fan” of this fund. “I don’t see the point,” he told the press, as the American justice system can decide to compensate a person wrongly prosecuted.
During a press briefing, a journalist asked the vice president if those who attacked the Capitol and assaulted police officers would be eligible for this fund. “Anyone can apply,” JD Vance responded. Even Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, could claim these funds, as argued by the president’s right-hand man. “We are not trying to give money to those who have assaulted a police officer. We are trying to compensate people who have been victims of injustices, mistreated by the judicial system,” Vance added.
Earlier, during a hearing at the Capitol by the Senate Subcommittee on Credits, pointed questions were raised to Todd Blanche. “Anyone in this country can apply if they feel like being a victim of instrumentalization,” responded the former personal attorney of Donald Trump, now Deputy Attorney General of the United States. Even aggressors of police officers, asked Senator Chris Van Hollen? “My feelings don’t matter, Senator,” Blanche replied, without excluding the possibility that members of the Oath Keepers or the Proud Boys, supremacist and racist groups organized into militias, who were heavily implicated in the assault that shook the American democracy and cost the lives of six people, including five police officers, could apply to the fund.
The acting attorney general compared this fund to an initiative taken under the Obama administration (Democratic) to recognize the mistreatment of the American state against Native American populations. The parallel comparison angered Chris Van Hollen, who further pointed out that the historic initiative in favor of Native Americans had been approved by a federal judge, while the Anti-Instrumentalization Fund had been established without following proper procedures.
Regarding the procedure, Blanche was questioned about the process to receive compensation. Five people, not yet named and according to him, not yet selected, will form the review committee. Disbursements will be published quarterly in “total transparency,” but the names of beneficiaries and the allocated amounts could remain confidential due to “privacy protection laws that could prevent the full disclosure of information collected by the commission,” Blanche stated. “Beyond that, transparency will be total, and I am fully committed to it, in accordance with existing privacy protection laws and privileges, etc.”
