Trump DOJ ‘lawfare’ fund temporarily blocked by judge as suit proceeds

A federal judge in Virginia on Friday temporarily blocked the Department of Justice from taking any further action to create, fund, or spend money from its so-called Anti-Weaponization Fund as a lawsuit challenging it proceeds.

The DOJ said earlier this month that it was creating the $1.8 billion fund as part of a settlement of a $10 billion lawsuit by President Donald Trump against the Internal Revenue Service for the leak of his tax records by an IRS employee.

The fund is meant to compensate people who allege they were the victims of prosecutorial overreach by the DOJ under the Biden administration. Critics have called it a “slush fund” for Trump allies, including people who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Judge Leonie Brinkema, in her order on Friday, enjoined the DOJ from “taking any further action pursuant to the creation or operation of the Anti-Weaponization Fund, which includes the transferring of money to the Fund; the consideration of any claims submitted to the Fund; and the disbursing of any funds from the Fund.”

The order came a day after plaintiffs in the case in U.S. District Court in Alexandria asked Brinkema for a temporary restraining order against the fund, or to issue a preliminary injunction against it and set a schedule for expedited legal briefing on whether the fund should be allowed to operate as the lawsuit against it proceeds.

Brinkema, in choosing the second option, told the Trump administration to file its opposition to the plaintiffs’ request by June 5.

She set a hearing on the question of whether to maintain a block on the fund for June 12.

The judge, in a pointed footnote in her order, wrote, “It is important that the status quo be maintained until plaintiffs’ pending Motion has been resolved.”

Brinkema said that was “especially” important because the plaintiffs had alleged that DOJ’s lawyers were ” ‘unable … to provide assurances of how long [the] status quo would last’ and declined plaintiffs’ request that the government commit to not transferring money to the Fund or processing or paying claims until at least June 19 to allow for less compressed briefing in this case.”

A number of Trump allies have already said they want compensation from the fund.

The suit is one of three federal cases challenging the DOJ’s fund.

The DOJ did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Brinkema’s order.

— CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger contributed to this article.

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