'Judge Blocks Anti-Weaponization Slush Fund'
(TPM) ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA — In a major blow to President Trump’s anti-weaponization slush fund, a federal judge in Virginia issued a preliminary injunction blocking the fund. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema gave the administration a week to file a declaration, under penalty of perjury, that the fund is not going forward.
Brinkema issued her ruling from the bench after a brief Friday hearing in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria. The judge rejected the administration’s argument that the case was moot because it wasn’t planning on proceeding with the fund. She ran Justice Department lawyer Andrew Block through his paces on why the administration had not committed to rescinding the fund in writing.
While Brinkema ultimately found that all the elements were met to issue a preliminary injunction blocking the fund from going forward, she did give the administration one week to file a declaration from Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, under penalty of perjury, formally rescinding the fund. Although the attorney arguing for the plaintiffs was initially hesitant about whether the declaration would be sufficient for them to dismiss the case, the judge said that she would likely find that declaration sufficient to render the case moot.
From the start, Brinkema took firm control of the hearing. She began with the DOJ’s Block, who was defending against the injunction, not the plaintiffs seeking it. “I’m very intrigued by what happened across the river,” she began, referring to the decision Wednesday in federal court in D.C. in a parallel challenge to the slush fund. In that case, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon had relied on the administration’s word that the slush fund was dead and found the case to be moot, although he warned it not “play possum” and just pretend it was dead.
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