DOJ Rebuffs Judge's Request for Written Assurance on "Anti-Weaponization Fund"

The Department of Justice rebuffed a federal judge's request to attest in writing it that won't move forward with its "anti-weaponization fund," arguing in a filing Friday that it would be "unnecessary" and that the request raises "serious separation of powers concerns."

Judge Leonie Brinkema last week extended her block of the $1.8 billion fund, which was planned to compensate purported victims of prosecutorial overreach during the Biden administration. She argued verbal claims by DOJ leadership that the fund wasn't moving forward were insufficient.

Brinkema gave Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent a week to file written, sworn declarations that the fund would not move forward before she'd agree to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to block the fund permanently.

"The Acting Attorney General has testified before Congress that the Fund is 'not going forward, period'... Undersigned counsel have twice signed briefs reaffirming that 'the Fund is not going forward,' and counsel for Defendants has twice said substantially the same thing in open court," DOJ attorney Andrew Block wrote in the Friday filing.

"All these statements were made against the backdrop of serious penalties for falsity," Block wrote.

Blanche previously testified to a House panel that the fund was not moving forward, though he held off on putting that claim in writing. He was also not under penalty of perjury at the time, MS Now reported.

Following Blanche's testimony, President Donald Trump said he wanted to move forward with the fund, which Brinkema pointed to as reason to doubt the DOJ's claims and request sworn declarations from Blanche and Bessent.

The DOJ in May announced it was creating the fund as part of a settlement of Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service for the leak of his tax records by an IRS contractor.

The plan was harshly criticized from both sides of the aisle over concerns that it could be used to pay Trump's allies, including people who pleaded guilty to crimes associated with the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.