The Justice Department said Monday it will comply with a federal judge’s temporary order pausing the Trump administration’s $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund while legal challenges move forward.
The fund was announced as a way to compensate people who say the federal government was used against them, a complaint that has gained traction among some Trump supporters during the Biden administration. Democrats criticized the proposal as a partisan “slush fund,” and some Republicans also expressed reluctance to back it.
A judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia temporarily blocked the fund last week after a lawsuit brought by Democracy Forward and other groups. In a post on X, the Justice Department said it strongly disagrees with the court’s decision but will follow the order. The department added that the fund had been intended to help anyone who alleged they were weaponized, targeted, or persecuted, regardless of political affiliation.
The fund was to be created under a settlement reached between President Trump and his Justice Department in connection with a separate $10 billion lawsuit Trump filed against the IRS over previously leaked tax returns.
The Virginia judge is considering whether to extend the pause and has scheduled a hearing for June 12.
Separately, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in the Southern District of Florida, who oversaw Trump’s original lawsuit against the IRS, is weighing whether to reopen that matter after the parties announced a settlement and dismissal. Williams had raised questions about the case’s legitimacy because the president appeared to be on both sides of the dispute, warning the court could be ‘the victim of a fraud.’ She has given Trump’s lawyers until June 12 to respond.