DOJ rebuffs judge's request to put in writing it won't move forward with 'anti-weaponization' fund

Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks during a press conference hosted with U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin on unaccompanied minors and prosecuting their sponsors, at the Justice Department, in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 11, 2026. Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters The Department of Justice rebuffed a federal judge's request to attest in writing it that won't move forward with its " anti-weaponization fund ," arguing in a filing Friday that it would be "unnecessary" and that the request raises "serious separation of powers concerns." Judge Leonie Brinkema last week extended her block of the $1.8 billion fund, which was planned to compensate purported victims of prosecutorial overreach during the Biden administration. She argued verbal claims by DOJ leadership that the fund wasn't moving forward were insufficient. Brinkema gave Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent a week to file written, sworn declarations that the fund would not move forward before she'd agree to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to block the fund permanently. "The Acting Attorney General has testified before Congress that the Fund is 'not going forward, period'... Undersigned counsel have twice signed briefs reaffirming that 'the Fund is not going forward,' and counsel for Defendants has twice said substantially the same thing in open court," DOJ attorney Andrew Block wrote in the Friday filing. …