The Anti-Disarmament Fund was supposed to provide a systematic process to hear and redress claims about the use of government power to target individuals, groups and entities for improper reasons, President Donald Trump’s administration said. But critics sued, worried it would hand out leaflets to insurgents.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (CN) – In an effort to persuade a federal judge to throw out a legal challenge to the Trump administration’s controversial anti-gun fund, a U.S. Justice Department lawyer on Friday repeated assurances that the scheme is now dead.
To date, “no money has been transferred to the fund, let alone any potential claimant,” Andrew J. Block, senior counsel to the attorney general, said in a statement. record filed in US District Court.“There were no mechanisms for formally submitting, receiving, processing, granting, or denying requests. Indeed, none of the five “members” envisioned to establish and administer such procedures for the fund have even been named.”
The nearly $1.8 billion fund was to pay damages to people the administration described as unfairly targeted by the US government. It was part of a proposed settlement of a lawsuit that President Donald Trump filed against his administration, alleging that the disclosure of his tax returns by a former government contractor entitled him to $10 billion in damages. While the president expressed support for the fund, various lawmakers, along with political observers and watchdog groups, worried that the money could be turned into handouts for insurgents who committed violent crimes during the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots.
The Virginia lawsuit challenging the fund, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, is being led by Andrew Floyd, a former assistant U.S. attorney who oversaw prosecutions stemming from the Jan. 6 attack, along with the nonprofits National Abortion Federation and Common Cause. Floyd claims he was fired for prosecuting Trump allies, who are now entitled to recover from the fund. The lawsuit names Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. the defendants.
US District Judge Leonie Brinkema, appointed by Bill Clinton, is presiding over the case and an indefinitely extended block on the fund while the legal dispute plays out. But the judge also offered an exit strategy, saying she would consider declaring the challenge moot if Blanche, Woodward and Bessent signed statements under penalty of perjury that the fund would not proceed “in any manner or under any name.” However, they refused to do so and the case is moving forward. A trial is currently scheduled for November, but must first clear legal hurdles.
In his brief, Block argues that the case is moot and the plaintiffs lack standing. The fund has attracted media and political attention, he emphasizes, adding that in all of this, Blanche has been clear: The fund is not happening.
Blanche previously told Congress the administration it would not move forward with the proposal, but Trump later indicated he still wanted it. Blanche also testified before Senate lawmakers on Wednesday and fielded questions about the fund, again asserting that the plan had been carried out. “I’m under oath today,” he said, “and I’ve said he’s dead over and over again.”
Separately, a Florida federal judge on Monday voided the settlement agreement between the IRS, Trump and Blanche, accusing them of trying to manipulate the court process.
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