Trump administration will abide by ruling halting $1.8bn 'anti-weaponisation' fund

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) says it will abide by a court ruling halting the Trump administration's $1.8bn (£1.3bn) fund meant to compensate people who allege unfair treatment by the federal government during previous administrations.

In a statement on Monday, the department said it "disagrees strongly with the decision" made by the court.

The administration last month announced what it called an "anti-weaponisation fund" as part of its settlement agreement with US President Donald Trump over a leak of his tax returns.

Democrats have criticised it as a "slush fund", Republicans have opposed it and a federal judge temporarily blocked its creation until a hearing on 12 June.

The DOJ defended the fund's establishment on Monday, saying in a statement on X that it was created "to make up for the tremendous abuse, harm, and hate unfairly shown to so many people".

The fund was "open to anybody who was so weaponized, targeted, or persecuted, whether they were Democrat, Republican, Conservative, Independent, or otherwise", the DOJ said.

The White House directed comments about the decision to the justice department.

Last week, US Judge Leonie Brinkema temporarily stopped the creation of $1.776bn government fund to compensate individuals who claimed to be targets of political investigation by previous administrations.