{"id":684,"date":"2026-06-25T20:11:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T20:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=684"},"modified":"2026-06-25T20:11:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T20:11:07","slug":"a-judge-wont-drop-the-lawsuit-against-trumps-anti-weaponization-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=684","title":{"rendered":"A Judge Won’t Drop the Lawsuit Against Trump’s ‘Anti-Weaponization’ Fund"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A federal judge rejected the Justice Department\u2019s attempt to end a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump\u2019s $1.8 billion \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund, saying that she didn\u2019t trust assertions by administration officials that the fund would not move forward.<\/p>\n

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The order filed Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Virginia allows the case to proceed to discovery over objections from the government. It\u2019s likely to add to pressure mounting on acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to formally declare the fund dead ahead of his confirmation hearing next month for the DOJ\u2019s top job.<\/p>\n

Blanche testified<\/u><\/span> to Congress this month that the administration would abandon the fund after lawmakers from both parties voiced alarm about its legality and the possibility of payouts going to people who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Government lawyers later said in court that it was not moving forward.<\/p>\n

Brinkema, who had indefinitely blocked the fund in a ruling earlier this month, told the government she would drop the case if officials submitted declarations affirming, under penalty of perjury, that the program wouldn\u2019t proceed in any form.<\/p>\n

Government lawyers declined, instead arguing in court papers late last week that those declarations were unnecessary and that the case should be dismissed.<\/p>\n

In her order, Brinkema said the government had \u201crefused to accord a genuine degree of trustworthiness to their representations about the Fund not going forward.\u201d She pointed to Trump\u2019s \u201cconsistent support\u201d for the fund and Blanche\u2019s testimony in Congress that the fund remains \u201cimportant.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Justice Department created the fund in May as part of a deal to end a lawsuit by Trump and his sons against the IRS over the leak of their tax returns by a contractor. Officials said the fund would compensate people who claimed to have been unfairly prosecuted or investigated by federal authorities.<\/p>\n

While Blanche said several times in his June 2 appearance before the House Appropriations Committee that the fund was done, he refused to put such a guarantee in writing.<\/p>\n

Brinkema said the promise to abandon the fund was not enough to nix the legal challenge, which was brought by the advocacy group Democracy Forward on behalf of several plaintiffs, including a former federal prosecutor who handled Jan. 6 cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cA civil suit does not necessarily become moot when the defendants agree to stop the conduct at issue in the litigation,\u201d Brinkema said.<\/p>\n

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The judge pushed back on arguments by government lawyers that it was beyond her constitutional authority to seek a written assurance from DOJ officials. A declaration rescinding the fund, she said, \u201cwould have sufficient evidentiary weight to render this litigation moot.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the order Thursday, referring to previous remarks by Blanche indicating the administration was not taking any steps to set up the fund.<\/p>\n

Democracy Forward said in a statement<\/u><\/span> on social media that the judge \u201csaw through the admin\u2019s backtracking, misleading, and conflicting remarks and is \u2013 yet again \u2013 holding them accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawmakers, too, are continuing to push for legally binding mechanisms that would ensure the fund can\u2019t be revived.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said he would try to force a floor vote on a bill to permanently block the Trump administration from setting up the fund.<\/p>\n

The No Carte Blanche Act \u2014 a wry reference to the acting attorney general \u2014 would bar financing of the fund and prevent the administration from steering taxpayer dollars to Jan. 6 offenders, political appointees and Trump himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough Todd Blanche initially said the $1.8 billion slush fund would not move forward, his own Justice Department emphatically refuses to commit that promise to writing, despite repeated requests from Congress and the courts,\u201d Raskin said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Blanche is set to sit for a confirmation hearing on July 15 and 16. Some Republican senators, including Thom Tillis of North Carolina, say<\/u><\/span> they are looking for formal action from Blanche in the coming weeks to put an end to the fund. Blanche has signaled to some senators that he is open to it, as Punchbowl News reported Thursday<\/u><\/span>.<\/p>\n

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The move adds to pressure on Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to take formal action to end the fund before his confirmation hearing next month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-courts"],"yoast_head":"\nA Judge Won't Drop the Lawsuit Against Trump's 'Anti-Weaponization' Fund - 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=684\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Judge Won't Drop the Lawsuit Against Trump's 'Anti-Weaponization' Fund - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The move adds to pressure on Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to take formal action to end the fund before his confirmation hearing next month.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=684\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-25T20:11:07+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=684#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=684\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"A Judge Won’t Drop the Lawsuit Against Trump’s ‘Anti-Weaponization’ Fund\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-25T20:11:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=684\"},\"wordCount\":733,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=684#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/a1bc91cf4629345815af1fa00c8731e2-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Courts\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=684#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=684\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=684\",\"name\":\"A Judge Won't Drop the Lawsuit Against Trump's 'Anti-Weaponization' Fund - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=684#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=684#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/a1bc91cf4629345815af1fa00c8731e2-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-25T20:11:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=684#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=684\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=684#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/a1bc91cf4629345815af1fa00c8731e2-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/a1bc91cf4629345815af1fa00c8731e2-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"FILE - Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks during an event with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House, Oct. 15, 2025, in Washington. 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