#Socialites, get into this: On Friday, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema put an immediate freeze on President Trump’s $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” stopping the administration from cutting checks to political allies who claim they were “targeted” by the previous government.
As previously reported, the billion-dollar bag didn’t just appear out of nowhere. It’s the result of a wild legal “settlement” where Trump, acting as a private citizen, sued the IRS for $10 billion over his leaked tax returns. Instead of fighting it, his own Department of Justice, led by his former defense attorney Todd Blanche, handed him this massive fund and a “get out of jail free” card that bans the IRS from ever auditing him or his family again.
While this plan worked for Trump, Judge Brinkema, a Clinton appointee out of Virginia, clearly wasn’t on board with it. She issued the temporary restraining order after the group Democracy Forward argued there is zero legal authority for the DOJ to just “invent” a billion-dollar payout scheme without Congress.
For now, the money is locked down. No commission has been formed, and no checks have been signed.
Of course critics are calling it the ultimate “hustle” using taxpayer money to create a private stash for the MAGA faithful. It’s also very questionable as the administration refused to say whether the cash would go to people convicted of attacking the Capitol on January 6th.
Both sides are headed for a high-stakes showdown in court on June 12th to see if this fund gets permanently dismantled or if the administration finds a way to keep the spigot open.