Booker and Cassidy urge judge to keep Trump fund blocked

Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, and Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, joined together on June 4 to urge a federal judge to keep Donald Trump’s nearly $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund blocked. In a bipartisan brief to U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, the senators said the program was “an immediate and dire threat to our constitutional order and the authority of Congress,” putting an unusual cross-party warning squarely at the center of a fight over who controls federal money.

The fund was created in May as part of a settlement tied to Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax records. Under the deal, the Justice Department said it would establish a $1.776 billion compensation program overseen by a five-person commission, with claims processed through mid-December 2028, near the end of Trump’s term. Brinkema already paused the program on May 29, barring the Justice Department from taking further steps to create, fund or spend money from it while the case moves forward. She set a hearing for June 12 on whether to keep that injunction in place.

At the heart of the dispute is whether the executive branch can route such a large payout through a settlement structure without a fresh vote from Congress. Democracy Forward and other plaintiffs argue the fund violates the Constitution, exceeds executive authority, unlawfully bypasses Congress’s exclusive power over spending and appropriations, and improperly uses the federal Judgment Fund. They say the arrangement is not just a bookkeeping device but a direct challenge to the legislative branch’s power of the purse.

Critics have also warned that the program could end up benefiting Trump allies, including some people convicted in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Supporters describe it as a remedy for victims of “lawfare” and government “weaponization,” framing the fund as compensation for political targeting rather than a reward.

The Justice Department said on June 1 that it would stop work on the fund after Brinkema’s temporary block and amid mounting Republican pushback in Congress. The ruling now carries significance beyond the $1.776 billion at issue: if Brinkema keeps the injunction in place, the case could become a precedent for how far a president can go in creating major spending programs without lawmakers.