'Crickets' as Todd Blanche just hours away from violating judge's order

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is just hours away from violating a judge's order on President Donald Trump's January 6 slush fund after thumbing his nose at it for weeks.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema gave Blanche and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent until Friday afternoon to file sworn declarations confirming the $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund is dead.

As of Friday morning, nothing had been filed.

Journalist Scott MacFarlane wrote that he had been checking the court docket all morning.

"Crickets," MacFarlane wrote.

Brinkema extended her block on the fund on June 12 after ruling that Blanche's verbal claims to Congress were insufficient. She demanded written sworn declarations from both officials.

The judge noted that Trump himself said after Blanche's testimony that he wanted to move forward with the fund — comments she said carried "a lot of weight," MS NOW reported.

The fund was created through a private settlement of Trump's lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. Critics noted it could pay Jan. 6 defendants, including those convicted of assaulting police officers.

Pooja Boistute, senior counsel at advocacy group Democracy Forward, said after the June 12 hearing she "honestly" did not believe Blanche and Bessent would comply.

"I think it will tell...a lot to the court that they have represented that they're terminating the fund, and there's no evidence to support that," Boistute said.

It is not the only court where Blanche faces jeopardy. Georgetown Law professor and former senior Justice Department official Marty Lederman argued this week that a federal judge already has sufficient evidence to order a criminal contempt trial against Blanche over deportation flights that defied a court order in March 2025.

"While mistruths and obfuscation may be the standard playbook for the Trump-Vance administration, it is telling that they have repeatedly refused to say under oath that the Slush Fund is truly dead," said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward.

If Blanche and Bessent file a sufficient declaration, the preliminary injunction will remain in place. If they don't, the court has said the case will proceed with the injunction in place.