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 or disburse money from its
A federal judge in Virginia on Friday temporarily blocked the Department of Justice from taking any further action to create or disburse money from its so-called Anti-Weaponization Fund as one of three lawsuits challenging it proceeds. Judge Leonie Brinkema said she would hold a hearing on June 12 in U.S. District Court in Alexandria on whether to maintain the injunction against the DOJ's $1.8 billion fund.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche earlier this month said he was creating that 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. Blanche is Trump's former criminal defense lawyer. The fund is meant to compensate people who allege they were the victims of prosecutorial overreach by the DOJ under the Biden administration, which they and Trump have called "lawfare." 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. One of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, who on Thursday had asked Brinkema for the injunction and expedited
briefing on blocking the fund, is Andrew Floyd, a former federal prosecutor who said he was fired last year for his work prosecuting Jan. 6 defendants.
The BriefWire