anti-weaponization fund – The Justice Department said Monday it will follow a federal court ruling that puts the Trump administration’s $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund on hold while a legal challenge proceeds. The pause followed a temporary block by a federal judge in the East
For now, the Justice Department is stopping short of carrying out the Trump administration’s controversial “anti-weaponization” fund.
On Monday. the department said it would abide by a federal court order that pauses the $1.776 billion fund while legal challenges play out. The fund had been tied to the administration’s effort to offer payouts to people who say the federal government was weaponized against them—an argument that gained traction among some Trump supporters during the Biden years.
A week earlier, a federal judge in the Eastern District of Virginia temporarily blocked the fund’s creation after a lawsuit filed by Democracy Forward and others. Now, the Justice Department says the court’s ruling will be followed as the case continues.
In a post on X. the department declared that it “disagrees strongly with the decision” and cited language from the judge’s order that. in its view. barred the department from proceeding “under no circumstances.” The Justice Department also said the fund had been designed to be available to anyone who claimed they were “weaponized. targeted. or persecuted. ” and emphasized that it was not limited by party. It ended with a pledge: “The Department will abide by the Court’s ruling.”.
The fund’s origin is tightly bound to a larger legal conflict. It was set up as part of a settlement between President Trump and his own Justice Department tied to a $10 billion lawsuit Trump filed against the IRS over previously leaked tax returns. That backstory has helped frame the fight: Democrats have attacked the effort as a “slush fund” for Trump supporters. and even some Republican lawmakers were reluctant to support it.
The judge in Virginia is weighing whether the pause should become permanent. A hearing is scheduled for June 12.
The legal questions don’t stop there. Separately, a Florida judge overseeing Trump’s initial IRS lawsuit is also deciding whether to reopen the case after the government announced a settlement and both parties said they were dropping it.
Kathleen Williams, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida and an Obama administration appointee. questioned whether the case was legitimate because Trump was on both sides of the dispute. Williams said she wanted to consider whether the matter amounted to deception and that the court was itself “the victim of a fraud.” Trump’s lawyers have until June 12 to respond to that inquiry.
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