A federal judge has issued a temporary injunction halting the Trump administration’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, which was created as part of an unprecedented settlement involving the president, his family and the Trump Organization. U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia entered the order on Friday after a Jan. 6 prosecutor and other plaintiffs filed suit to stop the fund.
The fund is being administered through the Justice Department, which did not immediately respond to the court order. Critics from both parties have criticized the arrangement, calling it a potential political “slush fund” and warning that there is minimal public oversight of how the money would be managed. Concerns about the fund were significant enough that Senate Republican leaders postponed a vote on a GOP funding package that included money for ICE and the Border Patrol, NBC News reported.
Brinkema’s order bars the administration from taking any further steps related to the fund while litigation proceeds. That prohibition includes transferring money into the fund, considering any claims submitted to it, and disbursing any funds. The judge said the freeze was needed to make sure no taxpayer dollars are irreversibly distributed while motions challenging the fund’s creation and use remain pending. A hearing is scheduled for June 12.
The lawsuit was brought by Democracy Forward and others; Skye Perryman, the group’s president and CEO, said the court’s decision recognizes the need to prevent taxpayer dollars from being distributed through what she described as a secretive and unprecedented political compensation scheme that requires full judicial review. Perryman called the ruling a win for transparency and the rule of law and argued that no administration can spend public money through a political rewards program not authorized by Congress.
Officials have said the application process for the fund cannot officially begin until five commissioners are appointed to oversee allocations, though some people who claim they were targeted by the government have already requested payments. The White House referred questions about the order and the process to the Justice Department; it remains unclear how formal applications would be submitted and who would qualify. The DOJ has said the pool of potential applicants could be substantial.
Andrew Floyd, who led a task force in the now-closed Capitol Siege Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia before being dismissed last July, filed a declaration in the case. Floyd, who prosecuted Jan. 6-related cases, accused the administration of creating a process that effectively rewards individuals he investigated and prosecuted, while treating prosecutors like him as disfavored. He described the fund as an improperly established mechanism aimed at quickly directing money to perceived political allies.
