Don Berthiaume, Trump nominee for inspector general at justice department, pressed by senators amid confirmation

Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as a top independent watchdog at the Department of Justice has refused to call the January 6 insurrection an “attack” during questioning by US senators.

Don Berthiaume, a career justice department employee who has been serving as inspector general at the agency, faced senators as part of his confirmation process to take up the role permanently on Wednesday.

Federal Tort Claims Act, over which DoJ has total discretion, provides workaround to Trump’s $1.8bn slush fund

January 6 defendants who assaulted police officers are pursuing legal claims for millions in compensation from the Trump administration using an obscure federal process with minimal oversight, but which offers the Trump administration a way to compensate those responsible for violence even after scrapping its “anti-weaponization fund”.

The defendants are pursuing their claims using the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), which allows individuals wronged by the government to file claims for monetary damages. The justice department has complete and unchecked discretion over whether to settle the claims, giving the Trump administration a powerful vehicle to reward those responsible for violence on January 6. The claims would be paid out from the judgment fund, a perpetual appropriation allowed for by Congress and the same pot of money Trump’s $1.8bn slush fund was going to draw from. All of the defendants seeking compensation received a pardon from Trump.