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What legal actions are being taken against the Trump administration's anti-weaponization fund?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton. A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration's nearly $2 billion anti-weaponization fund. The judge said the move was necessary, as NPR's Ryan Lucas reports.
At a court hearing on a lawsuit challenging the fund, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said the public statements from DOJ officials that the department was abandoning the fund were not sufficient. She noted that President Trump continues to publicly support the fund and that the government has refused to formally declare under oath that the fund is indeed dead.
Judge Brinkman therefore issued a preliminary injunction blocking the fund. But she gave the Justice Department one week to provide a clear, unambiguous declaration under penalty of perjury signed by the acting attorney general and the U.S. Treasury secretary that the fund will not move ahead. If it does so, the judge said she will likely dismiss the lawsuit.
If the government does not do so, then the case will move forward. Ryan Lucas, NPR News, Alexandria, Virginia.
A federal judge has refused to stop the White House from staging a UFC mixed martial arts event on the South Lawn of the White House this weekend. The White House calls the lawsuit baseless, saying it's no different from many other events hosted at public forums in the Capitol. NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben has more.
A watchdog group has filed a lawsuit attempting to halt the fight, noting the money that UFC stands to make off the event, and that Trump owns up to $50,000 of stock in the company that owns UFC. The DOJ has responded, saying in part it would be too disruptive to halt an event a year in the making, and noting past presidents' White House events.
White House spokesperson Davis Engel insisted to NPR there are no conflicts of interest and added that Trump's assets are in a trust managed by his children.
NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben reporting. In Ohio, a group that organizes political activities for democratic causes was raided by the FBI today. From Ohio Public Radio, Joe Ingalls reports.
Ohio Organizing Collaborative Board Member Prentice Haney says FBI agents have searched premises and in some cases taken laptops and electronic devices as well as interviewed people who work with the organization.
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