ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) 鈥� A federal judge agreed on Friday to extend a court-ordered block on the Trump administration’s creation and operation of for compensating people who claim to be victims of a weaponized government.
Earlier this month, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche that the government is scrapping its plans for the fund in the face of a fierce bipartisan backlash, and government attorneys have argued that lawsuits challenging the fund are now moot. But plaintiffs鈥� attorneys aren鈥檛 satisfied by Blanche鈥檚 assurances that the fund won鈥檛 move forward.
Neither was U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, who ruled that the 鈥淎nti-Weaponization Fund鈥� will remain blocked until further notice from the court.
鈥淭he (government’s) mootness argument, in my view, doesn’t go anywhere,鈥� the judge said.
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has not publicly and unequivocally endorsed the fund’s cancellation. He has continued to express support for it in remarks to reporters.
Brinkema gave the parties a week to negotiate an agreement for Trump administration officials, including Blanche, to submit a sworn declaration that the administration won’t revive the fund.
Brinkema to temporarily block the administration from proceeding with the fund for at least two weeks. Her May 29 order was due to expire on Friday.
Trump’s Republican administration created the fund to resolve his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns.
Plaintiffs who sued to block fund payouts argue that the government can鈥檛 legally divert taxpayer money into what they argue is a slush fund for compensating Trump鈥檚 allies.
In a separate case on Wednesday, a different judge in Washington, D.C., rejected a government watchdog鈥檚 for a court order temporarily blocking the Trump administration from forging ahead with the fund. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said he accepts Blanche鈥檚 representation that the fund is now moot.
Leon had asked Justice Department attorney Andrew Block why Blanche doesn鈥檛 formally rescind his May 18 order establishing the fund. Block said he didn鈥檛 know. He still didn鈥檛 have an answer to that question when Brinkema posed it two days later.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a huge gap in the record that we don鈥檛 have an answer to that question,鈥� said Brinkema, who was nominated to the bench by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat.
Block said he couldn’t provide her with a 鈥渃oncrete answer鈥� because he doesn’t have direct access to Blanche.
鈥淎ll I would be doing is speculating,鈥� he told the judge.
In the Virginia case, attorneys from the legal advocacy group Democracy Forward asked for an order to temporarily suspend the fund鈥檚 implementation and stop the Trump administration from disbursing any payouts from it.
The plaintiffs include a fired prosecutor and a college professor acquitted of assaulting federal agents at a protest. Also named as plaintiffs are the government watchdog Common Cause; the city of New Haven, Connecticut; and the National Abortion Federation, an association of abortion providers.
Even before the Trump administration said it was dropping the fund, the Justice Department did not form the five-member commission that would decide on payout criteria, so no money was paid out nor claims accepted.
Many of the Republican president鈥檚 allies are opposed to compensating rioters who stormed on Jan. 6, 2021, after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden. In May, however, Blanche wouldn鈥檛 rule out the possibility that Capitol rioters could be eligible to apply for payments from the fund.
Trump issued mass pardons to Capitol rioters on his first day back in the White House last year. More than 1,500 people were charged in the Jan. 6 attack before Trump erased every case with his sweeping act of clemency.
Democracy Forward attorney Pooja Boisture said reviving the fund would irreparably harm the lawsuit’s plaintiffs. A court order to block it wouldn’t harm the government if the administration is truly abandoning it, as Blanche testified, Boisture told the judge, who agreed with that argument.
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