Trump administration will pause controversial anti-weaponization fund after court ruling

The U.S. Justice Department said Monday it will comply with a court ruling temporarily blocking a nearly $1.8 billion US fund meant to compensate allies of U.S. President Donald Trump, effectively agreeing to pause the plan for at least two weeks after setbacks in the courts — and a fierce backlash from Republicans who objected to potential payouts to participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

The announcement came in response to a Friday court ruling by a federal judge in Virginia who ordered plans for the fund halted pending additional arguments later this month. The department said in a statement that it “disagrees strongly” with the ruling but would abide by it.

It was not clear from the statement, posted on social media, if the Trump administration planned to resume implementation of the fund in the event the judge lifts her order blocking it, or whether it intended to retreat more permanently from its heavily scrutinized plan to compensate individuals who believe they have been unfairly targeted by the criminal justice system.

The Trump administration had defended the “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” established to resolve Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns, as an appropriate corrective measure to make up for what officials insist was weaponized law enforcement during the Biden administration.

The fund’s future was called into question Friday by a pair of court rulings.

Hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants line up to apply for Trump fund payout 

Hundreds of people prosecuted over their involvement in the Jan. 6 attack in Washington plan to seek compensation from U.S. President Donald Trump’s Anti-Weaponization Fund, as Trump dismisses the growing blowback, including from his own party.

One judge in Virginia temporarily halted its formation and scheduled a June 12 hearing for arguments on whether to extend her order barring the government from moving forward with the fund while pending litigation challenges it.

“This Fund was open to anybody who was so weaponized, targeted, or persecuted, whether they were Democrat, Republican, Conservative, Independent, or otherwise,” the Justice Department said in a statement in which it asserted its disagreement with the ruling. “The Department will abide by the Court’s ruling.”

Separately, the federal judge in Florida overseeing Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS ordered Trump’s attorneys to respond to “grievous allegations” by settlement critics that the president abandoned his claims to avoid the court’s scrutiny of an illegal deal. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams gave them until June 12 to respond in writing to allegations of collusion and whether the case should be reopened because the court was the “victim of a fraud.”