Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s office declined to weigh in on a federal program that may compensate people convicted of attacking Capitol Police—and that quietly bars the IRS from ever auditing the president’s past tax filings.
Top New Hampshire Republicans again find themselves in a familiar role this week, answering for President Donald Trump’s blatant corruption with silence.
Trump’s Justice Department this week created a $1.776 billion taxpayer fund to compensate people who say they were targeted by the Biden administration. The acting US attorney general—Trump’s former personal lawyer —will appoint the five-member commission that decides who gets paid.
The Department of Justice has confirmed the nearly 1,600 January 6 defendants Trump pardoned are eligible to file claims. More than 250 of them were convicted of assaulting police officers.
US Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee called the move “among the most corrupt acts in American political history.”
New Hampshire’s Republican candidate for US Senate, John E. Sununu, who has accepted Trump’s endorsement, refused to comment on what has been described as a “slush fund.”
Republican Governor of New Hampshire Kelly Ayotte, who endorsed Trump in the 2024 election, also refused to comment.
The Granite Post asked both offices five questions about the fund, including whether they support its creation, whether they believe taxpayer dollars should compensate individuals convicted of assaulting police officers, and whether they consider President Donald Trump to be corrupt. Neither office responded.
The silence comes three and a half months after President Trump endorsed Sununu’s Senate bid, calling him an “America First Patriot” with his “Complete and Total Endorsement.”
Sununu once described Trump as “a loser” in the pages of the New Hampshire Union Leader before later reversing himself and accepting the president’s endorsement this year.
New Hampshire Democrats were unsparing in their reactions to the settlement which the New York Times editorial board on Wednesday described in a headline bearing the title: “There Has Never Been an Example of Presidential Corruption Like This”
“Donald Trump cut a $1.8 billion crooked deal to defraud taxpayers and help pay off the law-breaking insurrectionists who stormed our Capitol — all while slashing Granite Staters’ health care and food assistance” Said Cinde Warmington, Democratic Candidate for New Hampshire Governor, singling out Ayotte’s refusal to make a public statement. “Kelly’s silence here tells every Granite Stater what we already know: she will never take on Trump’s blatant corruption, reckless tariffs, or cruel health care cuts. As governor, I will always put New Hampshire first — not Donald Trump”
“Donald Trump is setting up a slush fund of taxpayer money to enrich his allies and pay off violent criminals who attacked the Capitol. This corrupt abuse of power must be stopped,” Congressman Chris Pappas, the Democratic candidate for the US Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, said in a statement on social media.
Top candidates for New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District also characterized the move as among the most corrupt actions ever taken by a President whose political career has been characterized by his flouting of laws.
“Right now Trump is putting more money in the pockets of the rich and powerful, and in exchange they’re letting him break the law. No questions asked! We have to break this cycle of corruption,” Stefany Shaheen, a Democratic candidate in the 1st district, said in a post on social media. “It’s going to take all of us, voting, volunteering, doing everything we can to elect a Democratic majority to Congress that will fight for more money in your pockets, instead of the billionaires.”
Maura Sullivan, another Democratic candidate in the 1st district, issued a statement Tuesday calling the fund “corruption on a grand scale, pure and simple.”
“The President is supposed to serve the American people, but this president and his enablers in Congress are only serving themselves,” Sullivan said in a text message. “Creating a $1.8 billion slush fund for Trump’s personal political projects is a perversion of our justice system, tax system, and basic fairness.”
What the fund does
Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche, President Trump’s former personal defense attorney, announced the Anti-Weaponization Fund on Monday as part of a settlement of Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.
The fund will draw nearly $1.8 billion from the federal Judgment Fund, a permanent and unlimited Treasury fund traditionally used to settle cases against the federal government. The money will compensate people who claim they were “wrongfully targeted” by the Biden administration. A five-member commission appointed by Blanche—any of whom can be removed by Trump at will—will decide who gets paid. There are no published eligibility criteria.
Asked Monday whether January 6 defendants who attacked Capitol police should be eligible, Trump said it “will all be dependent on a committee” that he controls.
There are at least five known individuals from New Hampshire who have had a conviction or guilty plea, served prison time relating to their role in the January 6th attack on the Capitol, and have since been pardoned and are eligible to file Anti-Weaponization Fund claims.
