A US federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from setting up a nearly $1.8 billion fund intended to compensate individuals the White House describes as victims of government “weaponization,” Ada Derana reported, citing Reuters.
The order by US District Judge Leonie Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia bars the administration from “taking any further action” to set up or operate the fund while she hears additional legal arguments. The order will remain in effect at least until June 12.
The US Justice Department announced the creation of an “Anti-Weaponization Fund” last week as part of an agreement to settle Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax records. The $1.776 billion vehicle was to be overseen by a five-member commission appointed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, distributing payments to people who could show they were victims of “lawfare” and “weaponization” — terms Trump and his allies have used to describe criminal cases and investigations against them.
Friday’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed by Democracy Forward, an anti-Trump legal group that said its members were targeted “by the Trump-Vance administration as ideological or political opponents” and alleged they would be ineligible for payouts. “This is a victory for transparency, the rule of law, and the American people,” group head Skye Perryman said. “No administration has the authority to spend public money through a political rewards program.”
A Justice Department spokesperson said the department “remains extremely confident in the legality” of the fund and would not allow “the policy preferences of judges to interfere with our efforts to provide restitution to victims of lawfare.” Blanche has said there are no partisan requirements on eligibility.
The fund drew criticism even from some Republican lawmakers, who objected that participants in the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack could be eligible for taxpayer-funded payouts. Critics have called it a “slush fund” for Trump’s political allies. Democracy Forward’s lawsuit is one of at least three challenges to the fund, which the DOJ had planned to start operating within 60 days of its May 18 announcement.
