A federal prosecutor fired by the Trump administration and a California professor acquitted of assault charges have joined a lawsuit filed Friday challenging a $1.8 billion fund created to compensate the president's allies. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, names the fund as unconstitutional and claims it illegally excludes those who say they were targeted by Republican officials.
The "Anti-Weaponization Fund" is structured to provide payouts exclusively to claimants asserting they were persecuted by Democratic administrations, according to the complaint. The plaintiffs argue this design amounts to political discrimination at a time when the current administration has pursued its own critics aggressively.
Andrew Floyd, a career assistant U.S. attorney who worked in the Capitol Siege Section, was dismissed by Attorney General Pam Bondi in June 2025. He contends the fund rewards criminals while erasing accountability. "First, hundreds of people attacked the foundation of an ordered society by trying to stop the results of a free and fair election, committing serious assaults on law enforcement and other crimes," Floyd said. "Then, this administration pardoned them. Now they are asking taxpayers to illegally reward them for their crimes."
Jonathan Caravello, a professor at Cal State Channel Islands, is also listed as a plaintiff. He was acquitted of assaulting a federal officer after picking up a tear gas canister deployed during a protest against an immigration enforcement action at a California cannabis farm last summer.
The suit also names the city of New Haven, the National Abortion Federation, and Common Cause, a government watchdog group. Democracy Forward, a progressive legal nonprofit, represents all plaintiffs. The group has filed more than 150 lawsuits since Trump's second term began.
Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, told NBC News the fund lacks basic legal footing. "There's literally no legal authority for the fund," Perryman said. "Congress hasn't authorized the fund. There's actually no legal authority to do this."
The fund emerged from a settlement agreement between the administration and Trump that bypassed court oversight. Trump, his sons, and the Trump Organization had sued the president's own administration for $10 billion over leaked IRS filings, but private attorneys dropped the case before a judge could rule on whether courts had jurisdiction given Trump's control of the Justice Department.
Two Capitol Police officers have filed their own separate challenge. Former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Department Officer Daniel Hodges called the fund a "slush fund" that would "directly finance the violent operations of rioters, paramilitaries, and their supporters."
Author Sarah Mitchell: "The administration's attempt to dodge judicial scrutiny while creating a politically selective payout scheme exposes the core contradiction it can't escape: defending rule of law while dismantling the very institutions designed to check executive power."
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