WASHINGTON, D.C. — Justice Connection projected a quotation from John Adams onto the Justice Department headquarters in Washington in protest of a $1.776 billion taxpayer-backed "anti-weaponization" fund. The projection, which read "A government of laws, not of men," was displayed over one of the large banners of President Donald Trump that were installed in February at the building known as Main Justice.

The group, founded by former Justice Department employee Stacey Young, said the Trump administration "shifted the country away from a system of laws and toward an era of lawlessness." The organization cited the firing of prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6 cases and cash payments to Capitol riot defendants that it expects the administration to pay out.

Young said the department is operating "as an arm of the White House" and doing Trump's bidding by protecting his allies and going after his enemies. "The $1.8 billion slush fund is appalling," she said. "We are standing up for the department's integrity and the rule of law. That is an extraordinary abuse of power, and it's a sign that the rule of law is crumbling before our eyes."

The fund was created as part of a settlement with Trump to drop legal claims. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told a congressional hearing that the fund was intended for anyone who felt they were the victims of a weaponized government, and he said applying does not guarantee receiving money. Blanche will appoint five members of a board that will oversee the payouts, Trump can fire all five members, and Congress will weigh in on the appointment of one of them.

Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, who signed off on the settlement creating the fund, defended it. "It is way, way, way too early to rush to judgment on whether this was a good or a bad idea, to describe it as a slush fund or even to criticize it because no claims have been filed or paid yet," he said. "So come see us after we've made one of these so-called corrupt payments. Come see us after this fund exists as a so-called slush fund. What we're trying to do is correct for the weaponization that was pervasive in the last administration."