Washington — The Justice Department said Monday that it will stop work on the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund following a district judge’s decision temporarily blocking the program.
The move comes after the plan earned intense pushback from Republicans in Congress, which threatened to imperil the GOP agenda on Capitol Hill.
The Justice Department said on X that it would abide by the judge’s ruling that halted work on the fund, effectively shelving plans for it for now.
“The Department of Justice disagrees strongly with the decision on the Anti-Weaponization Fund put forth by the United States District Court Judge in the Eastern District of Virginia, wherein the Court stated that, under no circumstances, may the Department of Justice proceed with the Anti-Weaponization Fund recently established in order to make up for the tremendous abuse, harm, and hate unfairly shown to so many people,” the department said on X.
It continued: “This Fund was open to anybody who was so weaponized, targeted, or persecuted, whether they were Democrat, Republican, Conservative, Independent, or otherwise. The Department will abide by the Court’s ruling.”
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.