House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) danced around the question of whether the January 6 rioters who assaulted police officers would be eligible for President Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” as he appeared before reporters on Wednesday.

Johnson was giving a press briefing on Capitol Hill when CNN’s chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju asked him if he was OK with “the ones who attacked police” collecting on the $1.776 billion fund.

“Would you be OK if January 6 rioters, the ones who were convicted, even some of the ones who attacked police, had access to these taxpayer dollars, $1.8 billion settlement that the DOJ has created the settlement fund. Would it be OK if they had access to that money?” Raju asked.

Johnson — sighing, rolling his eyes, and shaking his head at the question — replied, “We don’t know any of the details of that settlement fund. The acting attorney general, Todd Blanche testified yesterday, and he got a lot of detail. And I’ll just defer to what he said. Because he obviously knows a lot more about it than I do.”

When Raju tried to interrupt, Johnson cut in, saying, “Let me tell you what he said. He said they are setting up a fund to compensate all Americans who have been the subject, the target, of lawfare or weaponization of the federal government.

Johnson added, “Again, that’s not a partisan proposition either. Everybody should support that. He did not say who would be eligible — there’s many details to be filled on that. I’m not going to comment on that ’til it comes out.”

The controversial settlement with the Department of Justice, which came after Trump dropped a lawsuit against the IRS, has been denounced by critics as a “slush fund.”

Also on Wednesday, Harry Dunn and Daniel Hodges, two police officers, filed a lawsuit to block the Trump administration from giving a dime to the rioters who faced off against cops during the Capitol riot.

“Although Trump and his cronies have been secretive about the fund’s ends, reporting leaves no doubt that it will be used, among other purposes, to pay the nearly 1,600 people charged with attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021,” the lawsuit says.

Watch above via C-SPAN.

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