Acting U.S. Attorney Todd Blanche speaks about prosecuting unaccompanied minors and their sponsors during a press conference hosted by Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, USA, June 11, 2026.
Evelyn HochsteinReuter
In a filing Friday, the Justice Department rejected a federal judge’s request to certify in writing that it would not advance an “anti-weaponization fund,” arguing that the request was “unnecessary” and that the request raised “serious separation of powers concerns.”
Judge Leonie Brinkema last week extended a block on a $1.8 billion fund intended to compensate alleged victims of prosecutorial overreach under the Biden administration. She argued that oral arguments from Justice Department leadership that the fund is not moving forward are insufficient.
Mr. Brinkema gave Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent one week to submit written declarations that they would not proceed with the creation of the fund until they agreed to dismiss the lawsuit seeking to permanently block the fund.
“The acting attorney general testified before Congress that the fund is ‘not moving forward.’ … The signatories’ attorneys twice signed briefs reaffirming that ‘the fund is not moving forward,’ and defense attorneys said essentially the same thing twice in open court,” Justice Department attorney Andrew Block said in Friday’s filing.
“All of these statements were made against a backdrop of significant penalties for falsehoods,” Block wrote.
Mr. Blanche previously testified before a House committee that no progress was being made in establishing the fund, but he declined to make that claim in writing. He was also not charged with perjury at the time, MS Now reported.
After Blanche’s testimony, President Donald Trump said he wanted to move forward with the fund, which Brinkema said was why he doubted the Justice Department’s claims and asked for sworn statements from Blanche and Bessent.
In a late Friday afternoon post to
“Essentially, the judge’s declaration request was an attempt to get him to personally sign off on any future settlements the department might make, separate from this non-existent fund,” the Justice Department said in a post. “Judges cannot intervene in the department’s day-to-day settlement authority.”
The Department of Justice announced in May that it would create the fund as part of President Trump’s $10 billion settlement of a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over leaks of tax records by an IRS contractor.
The plan was heavily criticized on both sides of the aisle over concerns that it could be used to pay President Trump’s allies, including those who have pleaded guilty to crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
