A federal judge has turned the Trump administration’s own retreat from a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” into a legal test of whether verbal assurances are enough to stop a program that still appears to exist on paper.
US District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, continued blocking the fund, issuing a preliminary injunction after the Justice Department said the plan was no longer moving forward but did not provide a sworn, binding commitment that it would not be revived. Reuters reported that Brinkema gave the administration one week to submit a sworn statement confirming the fund will not proceed.
That keeps the proposed payout structure frozen while litigation continues. The court’s central concern is not only the size of the fund, but the gap between the administration’s public statements and the legal documents that challengers say created it.
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The Justice Department has argued that the case should be moot because Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told lawmakers the fund was not going forward. Brinkema was not satisfied. The Wall Street Journal reported that the judge cited conflicting evidence, including President Donald Trump’s continued public support for the idea, and ordered officials to provide a binding written commitment under penalty of perjury.
Axios reported that Brinkema said she would dismiss the case if Blanche, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. confirm under oath that the fund will not proceed.
The fund was announced as part of a settlement tied to Trump’s lawsuit over the leak of his tax returns. The “Anti-Weaponization Fund” totaled $1.776 billion and was linked to resolving Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS.
The fund’s critics argue that the structure bypassed Congress and gave the administration broad discretion to compensate people who claimed they were targeted by politically motivated government action.
A complaint filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said the fund was “not authorized, established, or funded by any Act of Congress” and was created through the settlement order.
The administration won a narrower procedural victory in Washington, DC, where US District Judge Richard Leon declined to issue a temporary restraining order in a separate challenge. AP reported that Leon relied on Blanche’s statement that the fund would not move forward, while warning the government against misleading the court.
Reuters separately reported that Trump allies are exploring other routes to compensate supporters, including claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act and possible access to the congressional Judgment Fund. Those efforts are separate from the blocked “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” but they show that the payout campaign may not disappear even if this version is formally abandoned.
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