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  "path": "/post/212116/doj-refuses-say-trump-slush-fund-dead",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-19T20:01:35.000Z",
  "site": "https://newrepublic.com",
  "tags": [
    "Breaking News",
    "Politics",
    "Department of Justice",
    "Slush fund",
    "United States",
    "Donald Trump",
    "Todd Blanche",
    "justice",
    "courts",
    "ordered",
    "injunction",
    "responded",
    "testimony",
    "was asked",
    "reported"
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  "textContent": "The Trump administration is refusing to declare in writing that the president’s $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is actually dead.\n\nLast week, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema ordered that “Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, Jr., and Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent FILE a declaration under the penalty of perjury that they will not take any action to create or operate the Anti-Weaponization Fund, and that the Anti-Weaponization Fund will not proceed in any manner, or under any name,” issuing a preliminary injunction and giving the government a deadline of June 19.\n\nThe deadline arrived on Friday, and the Department of Justice responded by refusing to file such a declaration due to “serious separation of powers concerns.” The DOJ claimed that Blanche’s congressional testimony earlier this month that the fund is “not going forward, period” is enough, along with similar statements from other administration officials.\n\nThis raises questions as to whether the Trump administration is sneakily trying to keep the fund alive in some form. After Blanche’s congressional testimony, Trump was asked if he was ending his slush fund plans. “No, a court ruled against it,” Trump said, going on to argue that “these are people that have been decimated” and “they should be reimbursed for a crooked government.”\n\nLast week, _The Atlantic_ reported that White House officials were still telling President Trump’s allies that they would get some form of payment, even with Blanche’s public statements disavowing the fund.\n\nDepartment of Justice lawyers also refused to declare the fund dead in writing to another federal judge, Richard Leon, more than a week ago. At the time, anonymous sources told _The Atlantic_ that work was continuing on the fund inside the Trump administration in secret. With that in mind, Friday’s court filing from White House officials makes it seem like they are trying to skirt the law and create the slush fund anyway.",
  "title": "DOJ Refuses to Officially Say Trump’s $1.8 Billion Slush Fund Is Dead"
}