Judge keeps block on Trump administration’s $1.8bn claims fund
A federal judge extended an order stopping a proposed fund for alleged victims of government “weaponisation” while lawsuits continue.
By James Whitfield · Staff Writer
3 min read
A US federal judge has kept the Trump administration from proceeding with a $1.8bn fund designed to pay people who claim they were targeted by government “weaponisation” and “lawfare”. The order prevents the plan from taking effect while legal challenges continue, despite Justice Department arguments that the dispute is moot because officials have said they are dropping the programme.
Judge Leonie Brinkema of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia issued a preliminary injunction on Friday, according to Al Jazeera, Reuters and The Associated Press. Brinkema had temporarily halted the fund the previous week, and the new order came as that earlier block was due to lapse.
The fund grew out of a settlement between President Donald Trump and the Justice Department over a $10bn lawsuit Trump had filed against the Internal Revenue Service, according to Al Jazeera, Reuters and The Associated Press. The Justice Department created a $1.776bn mechanism that would have relied on a five-member commission to decide who qualified for payments.
Trump has used the term “weaponisation” to describe investigations and criminal cases involving himself and his allies, Al Jazeera reported. The proposed fund drew resistance from lawmakers and other critics, and the Justice Department had previously retreated from the plan.
Justice Department says fund will not proceed
Attorney General Todd Blanche pulled back the proposal earlier this month after mounting criticism, according to Al Jazeera, Reuters and The Associated Press. Government lawyers have argued that lawsuits seeking to block the fund no longer need to be heard because the administration has moved away from the plan.
Before officials said they were abandoning the idea, the Justice Department had not created the five-member commission that would have set eligibility rules. Al Jazeera, Reuters and The Associated Press reported that no claims were accepted and no payments were made.
Plaintiffs who challenged the proposal said it would steer taxpayer money into what they described as a slush fund. They also questioned Blanche’s assurances that the government would not revive the fund.
Trump has not publicly backed the cancellation of the plan, according to Al Jazeera, Reuters and The Associated Press. He has continued to speak favorably about it in comments to reporters.
January 6 eligibility drew scrutiny
The proposal also raised questions over whether people involved in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol could seek compensation. Many of Trump’s Republican allies opposed payments for rioters who stormed the building, according to Al Jazeera, Reuters and The Associated Press.
In May, Blanche did not rule out that Capitol rioters who committed violence could apply for payments from the fund, the news organisations reported. That position added to the political backlash around the programme.
Trump issued broad pardons to people charged in connection with the Capitol attack on his first day back in the White House last year, according to Al Jazeera, Reuters and The Associated Press. More than 1,500 people had been charged before Trump’s clemency action wiped out the cases.
The preliminary injunction leaves the proposed fund frozen for now. The court order marks another legal obstacle for a plan that has already been publicly disavowed by Justice Department officials but not by Trump himself.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.