A federal judge on Friday said she doesn’t believe President Donald Trump’s plan for a $1.776 billion ‘anti-weaponization’ fund is fully dead, and issued an order indefinitely blocking the proposal. Judge Leonie Brinkema in the Eastern District of Virginia said she has decided to block the fund under a court order because acting Attorney General Todd Blanche or others haven’t said under oath the proposed fund was dead.

Background

The fund could ‘rear its head’ again in the future, the judge added, describing the prospect of US Capitol rioters getting payments as ‘problematic.’ Brinkema, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, is giving the Justice Department a week to decide whether it wants to submit a sworn statement from a top official stating that the fund is dead for good.

The Justice Department has argued the fund was dead, and any court order wasn’t needed. However, Trump and Blanche continue to express interest in creating some kind of mechanism to pay those they believe have been victimized by prior administrations and DOJ has not issued anything in writing reversing its earlier orders.

Original reporting: KTVZ (Central Oregon) — read the source article.