Judge extends block on Trump anti-weaponization fund, demands sworn pledge

A federal judge in Virginia kept President Donald Trump’s $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund on hold and demanded a sworn pledge that the plan is dead. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia said the Justice Department’s public assurances were not enough, and gave the administration one week to file a declaration under oath that the fund will not move ahead.

The ruling tightened judicial pressure on a plan announced by the Justice Department on May 18 as part of a settlement of Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns. The settlement contemplated a five-member commission appointed by the attorney general within 30 days, a structure that drew immediate bipartisan alarm because critics said it could operate like a taxpayer-funded slush fund for Trump allies, including people tied to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on June 2 that the Justice Department was not moving forward with the fund. But Blanche still refused to put that promise in writing or make it under penalty of perjury, and Trump continued to publicly defend the idea. Brinkema said that refusal left a “huge gap in the record,” and indicated she would likely lift the injunction if officials provide the sworn guarantee she asked for.

The lawsuit was brought by a coalition that included former career Assistant U.S. Attorney and Jan. 6 prosecutor Andrew Floyd, Professor John Caravello, the City of New Haven, the National Abortion Federation, and Common Cause. The plaintiffs argued the fund violated the Constitution, exceeded executive authority, bypassed Congress’s power over appropriations, and violated the Administrative Procedure Act. New Haven was the only municipal plaintiff, part of a broader pattern in which the city has repeatedly sued the Trump administration over federal policy.

The fight also spread to Capitol Hill, where Senate Republicans delayed votes on a Trump-backed immigration-funding package because of objections to the fund, while Democrats pushed to block it outright. Even if the Anti-Weaponization Fund disappears, reporters noted that the administration could still try to route some claims through the separate Judgment Fund, keeping open a larger question about how much discretion the executive branch can claim when Congress controls the purse.