Donald Trump STILL wants to find a way to ‘Reward’ those who tried to help him ‘Steal’ an Election ….
A Federal Judge denies a outside party suit against the fund…
But wants to hold the Justice Dept. to the word that the fund is NOT gonna happen….
That against Trump trying to keep the door open for it anyways….
A federal judge on Wednesday tossed a watchdog group’s lawsuit seeking to block the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) scrapped $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon denied the request for a temporary restraining order by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
The group, which bills itself as nonpartisan, argued in its initial suit on May 22 that the fund was a “jaw-dropping act of presidential corruption” and “brazenly illegal” due to the fact that Congress did not authorize it.
Leon, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, ended the hearing by warning DOJ attorney Andrew Block not to “play possum with this court” regarding the fund, according to The Associated Press.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, whom President Trump formally nominated to the full-time role earlier this week, announced the creation of the nearly $1.8 billion fund last month. The DOJ said the fund would be able to provide monetary payments to those who successfully argue that the federal government wronged them.
But the fund received bipartisan backlash on Capitol Hill, as lawmakers on both sides expressed concern that those convicted of assaulting police officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack could receive taxpayer dollars.
The DOJ then backed down from the fund earlier this month, after a federal judge in Virginia temporarily halted it from making any payouts. Blanche also told a House Appropriations subcommittee on June 2 that the DOJ is “not moving forward”with the fund.
The acting attorney general, though, told the panel he was “not committing” to establishing the abandonment of the fund in writing. Blanche noted that he will not withdraw a memo barring the IRS from reviewing the prior tax returns of Trump, his family and his businesses.
The DOJ created the “anti-weaponization” fund as part of a settlement in a since-reopened lawsuit by Trump against the IRS.
In an interview that aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the president defended the fund and expressed hope that the department would reinstitute it….
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