A state lawmaker plans to introduce legislation to prevent residents from benefiting financially for participating in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack in Washington D.C.
Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, announced Thursday he plans to explore how Connecticut can legally claw back any payments received by state residents from President Trump’s $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”
Once that legal review is done, Duff plans to introduce legislation in the 2027 session to impose a 100% state tax on any such payments received by Connecticut residents, according to the announcement.
“The Trump regime just handed $1.8 billion in taxpayer money to the same people who beat police officers and stormed the United States Capitol,” Duff said. “Connecticut is not going to let a single one of our residents profit from that corruption.”
“If you filed a claim with Trump’s slush fund and collected a check, we are going to explore every legal option available to take every penny of it back,” Duff added. “We will not allow this state to be a safe harbor for insurrectionist windfalls.”
The U.S. Department of Justice, as part of a settlement agreement in President Donald J. Trump v. Internal Revenue Service, established “The Anti-Weaponization Fund.” The federal government announced the $1.776 billion fund will allow “victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.”
Capitol police who defended the building on Jan. 6 have sued to block the fund, writing in their complaint, “In the most brazen act of presidential corruption this century, President Donald J. Trump has created a $1.776 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund to finance the insurrectionists and paramilitary groups that commit violence in his name.”
“Connecticut is going to fight back with every tool we have,” Duff said. “We are doing the legal work now so that when the 2027 session begins, we are ready to act.”
Gov. Ned Lamont called it a “good idea” on social media Thursday.
“And we should invest any revenue into the new fund we created supporting the families of fallen police officers killed in the line of duty,” Lamont said, in a post on X.
On the federal level, last week, U.S. Rep. John B. Larson, D-Conn., announced the SLUSH FUND Act, which he said would tax Trump’s “unethical $1.8 billion slush fund settlement with the IRS meant to benefit January 6th rioters and other MAGA allies at 100 percent, rightfully returning taxpayers’ money back to the people of the United States.”
The proposal would also impose an additional 50 percent penalty on any willful attempt to avoid or evade the tax, according to Larson.
Read more:
New Haven Joins Lawsuit To Block Trump Administration's $1.7B 'Slush Fund:' Mayor
Jan. 6 Police Officers Sue Trump Over $1.77B ‘Taxpayer-Funded Slush Fund'
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