Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump Administration From Using $1.8 Billion Fund

A federal judge in Virginia issued an injunction Friday that temporarily bars the Trump administration from transferring money in or out of a $1.8 billion fund created to compensate individuals who claim they were improperly targeted by federal agencies.

District Judge Leonie Brinkema, a Clinton appointee, ordered the hold to preserve the status quo while she hears full legal arguments next month. The ruling prevents any new steps to create the fund, send money to it, pay money from it, or consider claims.

The fund was established as part of a settlement between President Trump and the Internal Revenue Service. Under the agreement, the administration dropped a $10 billion lawsuit over the leak of the president’s tax returns, and the Justice Department allocated $1.776 billion to the fund.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the money is intended to compensate people who faced what the administration describes as weaponization of the Justice Department during the Biden administration. He stated that anyone can apply, except the president, and that actual claims would be decided by a five-member commission whose members have not yet been named.

Former federal prosecutor Andrew Floyd, the lead plaintiff, filed the complaint seeking to halt the fund. Floyd argued that the fund lacks congressional authorization and discriminates by limiting payouts to those who assert they were targeted by Democrat administrations.

“It is important that the status quo be maintained.”

Judge Brinkema set a hearing for June 12 to consider whether to extend the blockade. Other lawsuits challenging the fund are pending in additional federal courts. Democracy Forward, representing Floyd and other plaintiffs, contends that the fund constitutes viewpoint-based discrimination and that paying certain Jan.

6 defendants could amount to assuming obligations incurred in aid of insurrection, which the Constitution forbids.