Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks at a press conference at the Department of Justice on May 4, 2026 in Washington, DC.
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A federal judge on Thursday said a lawsuit challenging the Department of Justice’s creation of a $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization” fund will proceed, citing the DOJ’s refusal to confirm in writing to her that the fund is dead.
Judge Leonie Brinkema, in an order in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, said that if the DOJ had given her a “short, written declaration under the penalty of perjury” that the fund was dead, that would have been enough to dismiss the suit as moot.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testified to a House committee on June 2 that the fund is not going forward.
DOJ lawyers have pointed to that statement in arguing to Brinkema and another federal judge that it is sufficient to dismiss suits challenging the fund.
But Brinkema, in her order Thursday, wrote, “That the defendants have refused to accord a genuine degree of trustworthiness to their representations about the Fund not going forward is particularly concerning because of the President’s consistent support for the Fund and Acting Attorney General Blanche’s acknowledgement that the Fund remains ‘important.’ “
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