A federal judge in Washington, D.C. declined for the time being to grant watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) a temporary restraining order blocking President Donald Trump’s “Anti-Weaponization” fund to pay out allies who were investigated for criminal wrongdoing, reported Meidas Touch’s Scott MacFarlane — citing the fact the administration killed the fund themselves.
However, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, had a stern warning for the Trump administration: if you try to bring the fund back online, it will be a different story.
In his decision, MacFarlane noted, Leon said he will accept acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s claim the fund “is not moving forward” — but he instructed the DOJ, “Don’t play possum with this court!”
During the hearing, Leon grilled attorneys for DOJ, asking why the agency did not “rescind” the order creating the fund if it is truly canceled, to which the lawyer replied, “I don’t know.”
CREW, for their part, slammed the fund in their arguments as “illegally created” and “Deliberately structured to operate with maximum secrecy,” insisting that if the fund is truly “not moving forward,” the DOJ should put that in writing.
All of this comes after Senate Republicans debated, but ultimately passed on, language in the newly-passed Homeland Security reconciliation bill that would formally eliminate or at least restrict the use of the fund.
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