The Trump administration declined on Friday to put in writing that its nearly $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund is dead, leaving Judge Leonie Brinkema with a legal challenge that she had said could end if the cancellation was filed under oath. The Department of Justice said no sworn declaration was needed.
The dispute matters now because Friday was the deadline Brinkema set for written confirmation that the fund would not move forward. Without that filing, the court fight does not simply fade away. It stays open, and Brinkema has already signaled she would keep pressing ahead if the DOJ did not submit the declaration.
At the center of the case is a taxpayer-funded pot tied to a settlement agreement arising from Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over a leak of tax returns. The fund was designed to create a lawful process for people who say they were hurt by alleged lawfare and weaponization to seek redress. In effect, the money would have been used to channel claims into a formal compensation system rather than leave them in political limbo.
Todd Blanche had already told Congress on June 2, “We’re not moving forward with the fund — period.” The Justice Department pointed to that testimony and said it was enough. It argued that compelling senior Executive Branch officials to sign a new declaration would raise serious separation of powers concerns, and that Blanche’s public statement had already been made under penalties for falsity. From the department’s view, the judge already had what she needed to decide whether the case was moot.
Brinkema has not seen it that way. At a hearing in Virginia last week, she indefinitely extended her block on the proposed compensation fund and made clear that she wanted the administration’s position in writing, under penalty of perjury. She also indicated she would likely dismiss the pending challenge if the administration confirmed the cancellation on paper. The DOJ’s refusal leaves her free to keep the case alive, exactly the outcome the department said it wanted to avoid.
The standoff also underscores how far the retreat has gone without ever becoming fully formal. Blanche’s testimony, the department’s position, and the court’s deadline all point in the same direction, but the missing declaration matters because it would have closed the door in a way a hearing transcript does not. For now, the fund remains dead in practice and disputed in court, and Brinkema is waiting to see whether Todd Blanche and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will ever sign what she asked for.
