{"id":3469,"date":"2026-06-10T23:07:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T23:07:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=3469"},"modified":"2026-06-10T23:07:52","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T23:07:52","slug":"federal-judge-warns-justice-department-not-to-revive-payout-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=3469","title":{"rendered":"Federal judge warns Justice Department not to revive payout fund"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cDon\u2019t play possum with this court,\u201d U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon told the Justice Department.<\/strong><\/p>

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\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Acting attorney general Todd Blanche after testifying before the House Appropriations Committee this month. (Andrew Harnik\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

A federal judge in D.C. on Wednesday declined to bar the Trump administration from pursuing <\/b>its $1.8 billion payout fund for those who claim they were improperly investigated by the government, saying top Justice Department officials have stated in public comments and court filings that the fund is dead.<\/p>\n

But even as he denied the request for a temporary restraining order, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon warned the Justice Department not to revive the fund.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t play possum with this court,\u201d Leon said at a hearing in D.C. federal court.<\/p>\n

Leon said he would rule at a later date on a request for a preliminary injunction in the same case, which was filed by the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).<\/p>\n

But the judge said the case appeared to be moot because acting attorney general Todd Blanche testified to Congress last week that the plans for the $1.8 billion fund had been scrapped<\/a>, and Justice Department officials then repeated that in court filings.<\/p>\n

Plans for the \u201cAnti-Weaponization Fund\u201d generated bipartisan backlash in Congress and at least five federal lawsuits after Blanche announced it last month. It proved to be short-lived.<\/p>\n

At a congressional hearing last week, Blanche said the fund would not be established.<\/p>\n

That change of position came after another federal judge, Leonie M. Brinkema, ordered Trump administration officials not to proceed with the fund<\/a> until at least Friday, when she is scheduled to hold a hearing in Alexandria, Virginia, federal court.<\/p>

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Republicans, who control the Senate, had also expressed misgivings about potentially using taxpayer dollars to enrich the Jan. 6, 2021, rioters who received pardons from President Donald Trump or had their sentences commuted.<\/p>\n

CREW attorney Nikhel Sus argued at Wednesday\u2019s hearing that Blanche\u2019s statements and the Justice Department\u2019s court filings could be temporary and unreliable. The Justice Department has not rescinded Blanche\u2019s May 18 memo establishing the fund, Sus said, and Trump in public comments declined to echo Blanche\u2019s statements<\/a> that the plans had been scrapped.<\/p>\n

Plaintiffs in the Virginia case made similar arguments in a court filing in that matter Wednesday, urging Brinkema to not just take the department at its word. <\/b><\/p>\n

Leon said Trump could be making statements for a political benefit. But Justice Department lawyers, he added, could face judicial sanctions for making misrepresentations in court filings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact of the matter is, no members have been appointed to the fund … [and] no money has been transferred,\u201d Andrew Block, a Justice Department lawyer, argued at the hearing Wednesday. CREW did not have legal standing to sue because the case was moot and their injuries were all speculative, he said.<\/p>\n

Block added that he and Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, the No. 3 official in the department, had both signed their names to court filings saying the fund was dead.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur briefs are assurances in writing,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd those submissions are court documents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump this week formally nominated Blanche<\/a> for a full term as attorney general. Questions about his role in the creation of the fund are likely to come up in what is expected to be a contentious and uncertain confirmation battle in the Senate.<\/p>

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Jeremy Roebuck contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The judge declined a request to block the $1.8 billion fund, noting DOJ officials have already said it is dead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3467,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nFederal judge warns Justice Department not to revive payout fund - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=3469\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Federal judge warns Justice Department not to revive payout fund - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The judge declined a request to block the $1.8 billion fund, noting DOJ officials have already said it is dead.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=3469\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-10T23:07:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/6be0cdd79ff0764cb3688fa1ab310215-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=3469#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=3469\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Federal judge warns Justice Department not to revive payout fund\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-10T23:07:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=3469\"},\"wordCount\":619,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=3469#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/070ae74a107cbf5fffb28f3f17e45c7e-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=3469#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=3469\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=3469\",\"name\":\"Federal judge warns Justice Department not to revive payout fund - 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