By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from proceeding with a new $1.776 billion settlement fund for the Republican president’s allies who believe they were victims of a weaponized government, halting its formation or any potential payouts for at least the next two weeks.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, scheduled a June 12 hearing for arguments on whether to extend her order barring the government from moving forward with its “Anti-Weaponization Fund” while pending litigation challenges it. The administration created the fund to resolve President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns.
A Justice Department spokesperson said it’s “extremely confident” that the fund is legally supported “by ample precedent,” including from settlements during the administration of President Barack Obama, a Democrat. “We will not allow the policy preferences of judges to interfere with our efforts to provide restitution to victims of lawfare,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
The White House declined to comment on the judge’s ruling, referring questions to the Justice Department.
The judge, who was nominated to the bench by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, gave the government another week to respond in writing to the plaintiffs’ arguments in favor of freezing the fund’s creation and operation, including any payments in or out of it.
The fund has generated a fierce backlash since it was announced last week, with even Republicans pressing acting Attorney General Todd Blanche over the eligibility considerations and the possibility that even violent rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, would be free to seek compensation.
The Justice Department hasn’t formed the five-member commission that will decide on payout criteria, so there has been no money paid out yet or claims accepted.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys from the legal advocacy group Democracy Forward are seeking a court order halting the fund’s implementation and preventing the Trump administration from disbursing any payouts from it. The federal suit claims there is no legal basis or accountability behind the fund.
“President Trump and his allies have long accused Democrats of using the government and the legal system as political weapons,” plaintiffs’ lawyers wrote. “In doing so, the (Trump) administration fails to acknowledge the unprecedented campaign of targeting individuals and entities for retribution on personal and ideological grounds that it has carried out.”
Brinkema said it’s important to maintain the status quo — for at least the next two weeks — and to ensure that no funds are “irreversibly disbursed” from the fund. Her order temporarily prohibits the Trump administration from transferring any money to the fund, considering any claims or disbursing any money from it.
The Virginia lawsuit’s plaintiffs include a fired prosecutor and a college professor acquitted of assaulting federal agents at a protest.
“The unlawfulness that has imbued the Anti-Weaponization Fund from its inception requires that it be wholly dismantled,” the suit says.
At least two other lawsuits, both filed separately in Washington, also are challenging the fund’s creation. A lawsuit filed by the advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington refers to the fund as “a jaw-dropping act of presidential corruption.” Two police officers who helped defend the Capitol from a mob of Trump supporters sued last week.
During a congressional hearing, Blanche wouldn’t rule out the possibility that rioters who assaulted police on Jan. 6 could be eligible for fund payouts.
Nearly 1,600 people were charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Over 1,200 were convicted and sentenced before Trump handed out mass pardons, commuted prison sentences and ordered the dismissal of every pending Jan. 6 criminal case last year.
One of the plaintiffs in the Virginia case is former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Floyd, who prosecuted Capitol riot cases in Washington before he was fired last year by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi. Floyd believes his firing was retaliation for his Jan. 6 work.
“The President’s targeting of me and others involved in January 6 prosecutions leaves our country in a very dark place, sending a message that insurrection and sedition will be protected (and even encouraged) as long as it is on behalf of this administration,” Floyd said in a court filing.
Another plaintiff is California State University Channel Islands professor Jonathan Caravello, who was acquitted of an assault charge. He was accused of throwing a tear gas canister at federal agents during a 2025 protest against an immigration raid at a Camarillo, California, cannabis farm.
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Associated Press writers Darlene Superville, Alanna Durkin Richer and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.