'Distrustful' judges now want everything from Trump in writing

The DOJ is now refusing the request of a federal judge to submit a sworn declaration that it's backing off from President Donald Trump’s controversial anti-weaponization fund. But legal observers say the White House had best get used to judges requiring signatures and receipts over the word of somebody like Trump.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and other members of Trump's administration have refused to file the statement U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema demanded in her judicial order last week.

AlterNet recently reported that Brinkema said she wanted to "avoid any further litigation in this civil action," and asked Blanche and Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, Jr. and Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent to submit a declaration they wouldn't take any further action to create Trump's slush fund. The deadline for that was June 19.

But administration leaders say the judge should “essentially trust all of the representations that they've made so far,” explained MS NOW legal analyst Lisa Rubin. “And those, according to a brief that they submitted, include [DOJ head] Todd Blanche’s congressional testimony. It includes court filings and includes what they say are twice saying so in open court. And they say there's no reason why the court needs declarations from members of the administration.”

However, Rubin added that “this administration is replete with examples of judges asking the administration to put in writing effectively that they have complied with directives from the courts.” But if the administration puts in a sworn declaration that they are not going to pursue the fund and take steps to compensate these people, she said it would expose the administration to judicially imposed penalties, including potential criminal contempt.

Legal reporter David Rohde said the administration’s leeriness means they most certainly have plans to pursue the fund despite Blanche’s claimed commitments.

The problem for the administration here, however, is that judges have caught on that the Trump administration likes to lie. And it lies a lot.

“This is a reflection of what this judge is doing in Florida, reflects what judges have recently done in Chicago and Rhode Island and Washington, D.C. here,” said Rohde. “They have caught DOJ officials withholding information or making demonstrably false statements to federal judges. That hasn't happened in the federal courts for years. It was sort of an accepted thing that just the justice department would not want to lie to judges just because it would slow down so many of their cases. But the second trump administration has done this repeatedly.”

“That's why you have this judge pushing back so aggressively saying, ‘no, it's not sworn testimony from Todd Blanche’. … And that's why they need sworn statements,” Rohde added. “It's an amazing moment to have judges so openly being distrustful of a justice department.”

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