{"id":412,"date":"2026-06-12T17:09:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T17:09:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=412"},"modified":"2026-06-12T17:09:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T17:09:46","slug":"judge-gives-trump-administration-a-week-to-guarantee-anti-weaponization-fund-is-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=412","title":{"rendered":"Judge Gives Trump Administration a Week to Guarantee \u2018Anti-Weaponization\u2019 Fund Is Dead"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

A federal judge in Virginia on Friday indefinitely barred President Donald Trump\u2019s $1.8 billion \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund from moving forward and said she would give administration officials one week to provide a written guarantee that it is dead.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump Made It Easier to Build a Wall Through Big Bend<\/a><\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema said she was not convinced by the Justice Department\u2019s assertions that the fund \u2014 which was designed to compensate people<\/u><\/span> who claimed to have been unfairly targeted by federal authorities \u2014 would not proceed.<\/p>\n

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testified to Congress<\/u><\/span> this month that the administration would scrap the fund following uproar from lawmakers over the money potentially being used to compensate people who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. But Blanche declined to say as much in writing, and Trump continued to publicly defend the fund<\/u><\/span>.<\/p>\n

In court Friday morning, Brinkema said she had not seen enough evidence \u201cto guarantee this fund may not rear its head in some other guise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her ruling grants a request for a preliminary injunction by the advocacy group Democracy Forward, which sued on behalf of several plaintiffs \u2014 including a former federal prosecutor who handled Jan. 6 cases \u2014 to halt work on the fund.<\/p>\n

Brinkema said she would likely drop the case if the government filed a \u201cclear, unambiguous\u201d declaration signed by Blanche and affirmed under penalty of perjury that the fund was permanently canceled. If that doesn\u2019t arrive within a week, she said, the case would proceed as normal.<\/p>\n

The judge\u2019s order came a little more than a week after she temporarily blocked<\/u><\/span> the fund while considering arguments from the parties. The Justice Department had said it would comply with that order.<\/p>\n

Skye Perryman, the president of Democracy Forward, called the ruling Friday \u201ca significant victory for the Constitution, the rule of law, and people in America.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite the administration\u2019s shifting explanations about the future of the slush fund, the court\u2019s order ensures that taxpayer dollars cannot be distributed through this unlawful scheme while the courts fully consider the serious constitutional issues at stake,\u201d Perryman said in a statement.<\/p>\n

A White House spokesperson declined to comment and pointed to earlier remarks by Trump and Blanche about the fund not continuing. A Justice Department spokesperson didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

The Justice Department established the fund in May as part of an agreement resolving a $10 billion lawsuit Trump and his sons brought against the IRS over the leak of their tax returns.<\/p>\n

Read more Ex-Rep. Devin Nunes and the Mystery of His $14.5 Million War Chest<\/a><\/p>\n

The fund drew a chorus of criticism<\/u><\/span> from Democrats and Republicans in Congress who questioned its legality and voiced alarm about the possibility of sending payments to Jan. 6 defendants with virtually no oversight.<\/p>\n

Democracy Forward filed a lawsuit in May, arguing the fund created an unconstitutional and \u201cpolitically discriminatory\u201d claims process. The lead plaintiff is former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Floyd, who prosecuted several Jan. 6 cases.<\/p>\n

Brinkema\u2019s ruling came two days after U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington declined to block the fund in a separate lawsuit, saying the case appeared to be moot.<\/p>\n

During Friday\u2019s hearing, Brinkema pressed a government lawyer, Andrew Block, about why he was unable to explain to the judge in that case why Blanche hadn\u2019t simply rescinded the Justice Department order creating the fund.<\/p>\n

She asked if he had an answer now.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour honor, I don\u2019t,\u201d Block said.<\/p>\n

Brinkema appeared skeptical. \u201cI cannot believe, given the significance of this case, you didn\u2019t discuss it with somebody in a supervisory role,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Block responded that he would be \u201cspeculating\u201d if he spoke further and noted again that Blanche had directed the fund not to move forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have an answer for why that particular paper wasn\u2019t rescinded,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Brinkema said that Trump\u2019s remarks about the fund and the lack of a sworn statement from Blanche could leave the door open for the fund to be revived in some capacity. She also noted that some law firms appeared to be accepting applications from people \u201cwho think this fund is up and running.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toward the end of the hearing, Brinkema took the unusual step of reading directly from a friend-of-the-court brief filed<\/u><\/span> by Sens. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) and Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), who called the fund an \u201cend-run around Congress\u2019s institutional authority.\u201d<\/p>\n

She quoted from a section discussing possible payments to Capitol rioters that said the fund risked using \u201cthe machinery of democratic government to subsidize an attack on that government\u2019s most fundamental processes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more How Senate Democrats Got Their Mojo Back<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A U.S. district judge blocked the fund from moving forward, but wants the DOJ to put in writing that there\u2019s no reviving it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-courts"],"yoast_head":"\nJudge Gives Trump Administration a Week to Guarantee \u2018Anti-Weaponization\u2019 Fund Is Dead - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=412\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Judge Gives Trump Administration a Week to Guarantee \u2018Anti-Weaponization\u2019 Fund Is Dead - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A U.S. district judge blocked the fund from moving forward, but wants the DOJ to put in writing that there\u2019s no reviving it.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=412\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-12T17:09:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=412#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=412\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"Judge Gives Trump Administration a Week to Guarantee \u2018Anti-Weaponization\u2019 Fund Is Dead\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-12T17:09:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=412\"},\"wordCount\":802,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=412#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/c45df548e99622e99044fa5f2651fc84-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Courts\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=412#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=412\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=412\",\"name\":\"Judge Gives Trump Administration a Week to Guarantee \u2018Anti-Weaponization\u2019 Fund Is Dead - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=412#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=412#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/c45df548e99622e99044fa5f2651fc84-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-12T17:09:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=412#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=412\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=412#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/c45df548e99622e99044fa5f2651fc84-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/c45df548e99622e99044fa5f2651fc84-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1679,\"caption\":\"Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche meets with reporters as the Justice Department says it's releasing 3 million pages of documents in the latest Jeffrey Epstein disclosure, along with 2,000 videos and 180,000 images, in Washington, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo\\\/J. Scott Applewhite)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=412#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Judge Gives Trump Administration a Week to Guarantee \u2018Anti-Weaponization\u2019 Fund Is Dead\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Modern Home Journals\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Judge Gives Trump Administration a Week to Guarantee \u2018Anti-Weaponization\u2019 Fund Is Dead - Modern Home Journals","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=412","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Judge Gives Trump Administration a Week to Guarantee \u2018Anti-Weaponization\u2019 Fund Is Dead - Modern Home Journals","og_description":"A U.S. district judge blocked the fund from moving forward, but wants the DOJ to put in writing that there\u2019s no reviving it.","og_url":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=412","og_site_name":"Modern Home Journals","article_published_time":"2026-06-12T17:09:46+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=412#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=412"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/#\/schema\/person\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0"},"headline":"Judge Gives Trump Administration a Week to Guarantee \u2018Anti-Weaponization\u2019 Fund Is Dead","datePublished":"2026-06-12T17:09:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=412"},"wordCount":802,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=412#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c45df548e99622e99044fa5f2651fc84-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Courts"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=412#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=412","url":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=412","name":"Judge Gives Trump Administration a Week to Guarantee \u2018Anti-Weaponization\u2019 Fund Is Dead - Modern Home Journals","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=412#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=412#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c45df548e99622e99044fa5f2651fc84-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-12T17:09:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/#\/schema\/person\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=412#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=412"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=412#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c45df548e99622e99044fa5f2651fc84-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c45df548e99622e99044fa5f2651fc84-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1679,"caption":"Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche meets with reporters as the Justice Department says it's releasing 3 million pages of documents in the latest Jeffrey Epstein disclosure, along with 2,000 videos and 180,000 images, in Washington, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=412#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Judge Gives Trump Administration a Week to Guarantee \u2018Anti-Weaponization\u2019 Fund Is Dead"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/","name":"Modern Home Journals","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/#\/schema\/person\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/modernhomejournals.com"],"url":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}