Judge temporarily halts payout from Trump administration’s Anti-Weaponization Fund
by Mary McCue Bell · The Washington TimesThe Trump administration’s $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge in Virginia, putting on hold any plans to compensate people who claim the federal government improperly targeted them.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, a Clinton appointee, issued an injunction Friday blocking the administration from taking any new steps to create it, send money to it, pay money from it or consider any claims.
She said the hold gives her time to hear the legal arguments more fully.
“It is important that the status quo be maintained,” she said in a brief order.
Former federal prosecutor Andrew Floyd, the lead plaintiff among several, filed an original complaint to “halt and set aside the creation and operation of this lawless fund,” adding that it “has no congressional authorization, no basis in law, and no accountability.”
Mr. Floyd argued that the fund discriminated by only paying out to those “who assert that they were targeted by ‘Democrat’ administrations.”
The fund was created as part of a settlement agreement between President Trump and the Internal Revenue Service. Mr. Trump agreed to drop his $10 billion lawsuit over the leak of his tax returns and the Justice Department created the fund, allocating $1.776 billion to it.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the money is intended to compensate those who faced “weaponization” of the Justice Department during the Biden administration.
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Mr. Blanche said anyone can apply, save for Mr. Trump and his family.
He said actual claims would be decided by a five-member commission, whose members he has yet to name, and who would set their own rules.
Rep. Richard E. Neal, the top Democrat on the House Ways & Means Committee, called the judge’s halt “a welcome reprieve,” but said the GOP-led Congress needs to step in and cancel the fund altogether.
“They must stiffen their spines, join Democrats in standing up to Trump’s personal protection racket, and defend their constituents who are being stretched further every day while bankrolling billion-dollar grievances,” the Massachusetts lawmaker said in a statement.
Mr. Floyd was fired from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia after leading a task force to investigate and prosecute individuals who took part in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
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Some Jan. 6 defendants have already indicated they would apply for compensation from the fund.
Democracy Forward, representing Mr. Floyd and the other plaintiffs, argues that the fund is viewpoint-based discrimination and paying Jan. 6 participants could amount to assuming obligations “incurred in aid of insurrection,” which the Constitution expressly forbids, among other things.
Judge Brinkema set a hearing for June 12 for arguments over whether to extend her blockade on the fund.
Other lawsuits challenging the fund are pending in several other federal courts, though Judge Brinkema is the first to order a halt.
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Mary McCue Bell
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