Judge extends block on Trump’s $1.8 billion 'Anti-Weaponization Fund'

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema extended a court-ordered block on the Trump administration’s proposed $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” on June 12, keeping the plan frozen while she pressed the government for a formal assurance that it has truly been abandoned.

Brinkema rejected the administration’s argument that the lawsuit had become moot after Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told Congress earlier in June that the fund was being scrapped. Plaintiffs argued that a public statement was not enough and warned that the program could still be revived without a binding commitment.

The ruling keeps the dispute alive and prevents any money from moving forward for now. Brinkema said she wanted a sworn, written assurance, under penalty of perjury, before treating the issue as closed.

Why the judge kept the block in place

The central fight in the case is not whether the fund has been publicly criticized. It is whether the administration has taken the formal legal steps needed to make the proposal permanently dead.

According to the reporting, Brinkema was unconvinced by Blanche’s congressional testimony alone. She concluded that the government had not given the kind of unequivocal, binding abandonment the plaintiffs were seeking.

That left the case in a posture where the administration says the fund is gone, but the court has not accepted that claim as final. The judge’s order means the government may still need to file a sworn declaration before the block can be lifted.

How the fund became a legal fight

The proposed payout pool was tied to a settlement stemming from Trump’s lawsuit over the IRS leak of his tax returns. The fund was presented as compensation for people claiming they were victims of government “weaponization.”

Critics described the proposal as a politically sensitive compensation program, and public concern intensified over whether it could benefit Trump allies, including people tied to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. The court dispute grew out of those concerns about who might eventually receive money and how those claims would be reviewed.

The Justice Department had not yet formed a commission to oversee claims and had not paid out any money, according to the reporting. That meant the case centered on the risk of future use of the money, not on a distribution already underway.

The hearing and the timeline

A temporary block had already been in place before the June 12 hearing. On that day, AP reported that Brinkema extended the block and kept the fund frozen. Later reporting from the Wall Street Journal said she issued a preliminary injunction and demanded a binding written commitment that the fund is dead.

That chronology matters because the administration had been trying to argue that the controversy was over. But the court’s response showed that the judge still saw an active dispute over whether the fund could be revived in some form.

Earlier reporting had also shown how the case reached this point. The fund had been challenged in court after the settlement proposal became public, and a separate judge in Washington, D.C., had previously declined to block it, accepting the administration’s mootness argument.

Brinkema’s ruling moved in the opposite direction. Rather than accept the claim that the matter was over, she kept the freeze in place and asked for formal proof that the proposal would not return.

Who is involved

The key figures include Brinkema; Blanche; Donald Trump; the Justice Department; and the plaintiffs challenging the fund. The reporting also identifies a fired prosecutor, a professor, advocacy groups and New Haven in related litigation over the proposal.

Those challengers have argued that a public assurance is not enough. Their position is that only a binding revocation would prevent the administration from reviving the idea later.

The government’s position is the opposite. It says the matter is moot because the fund is being scrapped. Brinkema has not accepted that claim without a formal, sworn commitment.

What the ruling means now

For now, no money from the disputed fund can move forward. The ruling preserves the status quo while the court waits to see whether the administration will provide the declaration the judge requested.

The practical stakes are large. The block delays or prevents any distribution of up to $1.8 billion, and it keeps open the question of whether any claims process will ever be created.

It also leaves unresolved who could have been eligible for payments under the proposal. The reporting says no commission has been formed and no payouts have been made, but the fund’s legal status remains contested.

The broader political issue is the same one that has shadowed the case from the start: whether a settlement tied to Trump’s IRS-related lawsuit can be directed into a compensation program that critics view as politically loaded.

What happens next

The next step may be a sworn declaration from the administration addressing whether the fund has truly been abandoned. If the government does not provide that assurance, the litigation is likely to continue.

Plaintiffs are expected to keep pressing the argument that the fund could be revived without a binding revocation. The court will then decide whether the block stays in place permanently or remains until further proceedings.

Related cases in other courts may also continue to develop around the same fund. For now, Brinkema’s order makes clear that congressional assurances alone are not enough to end the dispute.

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