Judge orders Trump officials to disclose who set up the $1.8B ‘anti-weaponization’ fund

The ruling comes in a lawsuit first filed by a fired Jan. 6 prosecutor and a law professor seeking to block the “anti-weaponization” fund.

A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to identify the people who came up with the structure for the nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” that Attorney General Todd Blanche has said is now “dead.”

U.S. Magistrate Judge Ivan D. Davis of the Eastern District of Virginia issued an order that granted part of a motion from plaintiffs to compel discovery from the federal government, a person who was in the courtroom when the order was issued confirmed to NBC News. The order includes disclosing the names of the fund’s architects, the person said.

The New York Times reported on the details of the judge’s order.

“Today’s order granting discovery is a significant step in getting to the bottom of the slush fund,” Aman George, senior counsel at Democracy Forward, a nonprofit organization representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement. “We will continue to meet the government in court until our investigation is complete and the slush fund is permanently halted.”

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday evening.