Trump-Aligned Lawyers Set Sights on ‘Anti-Weaponization’ Fund

President Donald Trump’s allies in the legal profession are seizing on the Justice Department’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund to represent clients allegedly hit with partisan prosecution.

Zimolong LLC, which helped Republicans win election-related cases in Pennsylvania, has created a task force to assist those who want to make fund claims. “We are laser focused on bringing justice to the innocent victims of anti-Trump persecution,” said Wally Zimolong, founder of the firm based in suburban Philadelphia.

Miami-area trial lawyer Peter Ticktin said he will apply to the fund on behalf of clients who were unfairly targeted after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack at the US Capitol—and that some of any proceeds he gets will help pay his fee. “The vast majority of J-sixers, 99% of them, were peaceful,” Ticktin said.

The lawyers’ comments show how the unusual fund is racking up attention from potential claimants just two days after its creation was announced. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the fund, established as part of Trump’s settlement with the IRS over a leak of his family’s tax returns, will provide financial relief to those claiming to have been targeted by “lawfare” or “weaponization.”

Pressed by members of Congress Tuesday, Blanche said Hunter Biden is eligible to apply, as well as Jan. 6 protesters. Critics have decried the fund, which will be overseen by five Blanche appointees, as a slush-fund to compensate the president’s allies for breaking the law.

The Zimolong firm is soliciting potential fund claimants on its website. The firm said it’s expecting to “assist individuals seeking to evaluate potential claims and legal remedies related to political retaliation, unconstitutional investigations, employment discrimination, reputational attacks, and other harms suffered.”

The firm takes credit for helping secure Trump’s return to the White House through its election litigation. In 2024, Zimolong won a preliminary injunction requiring the Board of Elections of Bucks County, Pennsylvania to extend early voting.

Advisory firm 117 Partners encouraged lawyers to contact the firm to seek assistance navigating the newly announced fund. “We believe there may be a substantial need for assistance in organizing documentation, evaluating potential damages, and navigating what could become a large and complex claims process,” Thomas Braziel, the firm’s managing partner, said in a prepared announcement.

Ticktin and Missouri-based personal injury lawyer Mark McCloskey, who rose to fame after he and his wife were photographed brandishing a gun against Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020, have been lobbying the Trump administration for financial relief for Jan. 6 protesters for a year. The pair previously sought to bring a lawsuit against the federal government before McCloskey stepped away in April for personal reasons.

McCloskey said May 15 he was again representing some Jan. 6 plaintiffs. Reports that a DOJ fund would be created, he said, made the future look brighter. McCloskey didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Ticktin said he will file lawsuits for 10 Jan. 6 plaintiffs in DC court this week, a holdover until DOJ develops guidelines for allocating the fund’s money. He said he plans to take a 20% contingency fee of lawsuit recovery or the fund allocation.

In all, Ticktin said some 400 people have claims relating to Jan. 6. He previously advocated for a pardon for Tina Peters, the former Mesa County, Colorado clerk who was convicted of criminal charges relating to the 2020 election. Gov. Jared Polis commuted her sentence in May.

“I’m not saying every J-sixer was an innocent person,” Ticktin said. “One person had a baseball bat he was wielding. That’s crazy. No sympathy for that guy.”