Federal Judge Blocks Trump's $1.8B 'Anti-Weaponization' Fund Payouts
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema (E.D. Va., Clinton appointee) issued a temporary injunction on May 29, 2026 blocking the Justice Department from transferring money to, accepting claims for, or disbursing any funds from the $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" created by the Trump DOJ. A hearing to decide whether to extend the block is scheduled for June 12, 2026. The fund, announced by then-Acting AG Todd Blanche in mid-May 2026, was created to compensate people the administration claimed were targeted by the Biden DOJ — including many January 6 defendants who had assaulted law enforcement. It drew immediate and unusually fierce bipartisan backlash in Congress, with Republican senators including Mitch McConnell, Thom Tillis, and Ted Cruz joining Democrats in condemning it as a "slush fund" to pay "cop beaters." Cruz described a closed Senate briefing with Blanche as one of the "roughest meetings" of his Senate tenure, with "at least half" of Republicans "blasting the attorney general." The court ruling was welcomed by Democrats who called it a critical check on what they described as an unprecedented abuse of taxpayer funds. The DOJ said it was "extremely confident in the legality" of the fund and vowed to fight the injunction.