Judge temporarily blocks Trump's anti-weaponization fund
by Danielle Haynes · UPIMay 29 (UPI) -- A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Justice Department's $1.8 billion fund it created to compensate those who said they were unfairly investigated by previous presidents.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia said she issued the stay "to ensure that no funds are irreversibly disbursed from the Anti-Weaponization Fund ... while plaintiffs' Motion is pending."
Her order was in response to legal challenges to the fund, which the Justice Department said it created earlier this month to hear and redress claims of targeting by previous administrations. The fund was established as part of a settlement between the department and President Donald Trump and his two sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, to drop their $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.
But both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have cried foul over the fund, with some accusing the Trump administration of planning to use it as a slush fund for Trump's allies, NBC News reported.
Plaintiffs in the case include federal prosecutors who worked on cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot; a professor arrested during an immigration protest; the National Abortion Federation; Common Cause; and the city of New Haven, Conn.
Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, which is representing the plaintiffs, said Friday's ruling was a "victory for transparency, the rule of law and the American people."
"Today, a federal court recognized the urgent need to prevent taxpayer dollars from being distributed through a secretive and unprecedented political compensation scheme before the legality of that program can be fully reviewed by the court," she said in a statement to The Hill.
"No administration has the authority to spend public money through a political rewards program that Congress never authorized."
Brinkema, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, has scheduled a hearing in the case for June 12.
This week in Washington
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Donald Trump participate in a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House on Wednesday. Photo by Samuel Corum/UPI | License Photo