A federal judge has rejected a request from the Department of Justice to extend the midnight deadline for the Trump administration to release more than $1.9 billion in foreign aid.
The case now moves to a panel of three appellate judges, all of whom were appointed by Democratic presidents, who will decide whether to issue an emergency ruling that would temporarily delay the deadline.
Judge Amir Ali, in his decision denying the extension request, criticized the Trump administration for only raising its concerns at the last minute. “This is not something that Defendants have previously raised in this Court, whether at the hearing or any time before filing their notice of appeal and seeking a stay pending appeal. That is so even though Plaintiffs’ motion to enforce explicitly proposed compliance on this time frame,” Ali wrote.
On Tuesday, Ali ruled that the Trump administration must release nearly $2 billion in delayed foreign aid payments, according to a USAID official. He determined that the administration had violated a temporary restraining order issued two weeks earlier, which had prohibited freezing the funds.
A senior USAID official warned that meeting the court’s order would mean making nearly $2 billion in payments, which, according to the agency, would be impossible within the required timeframe.
Attorneys for the Justice Department submitted a late-night filing on Tuesday requesting that Ali grant an extension, arguing that the administration would be unable to comply with the court order by the 11:59 p.m. Wednesday deadline. The administration had originally attempted to block the payments through an executive order, but the judge had previously ruled that the aid must be disbursed.
The DOJ attorneys contended that beyond being logistically unfeasible, making the payments as ordered would also prevent the administration from ensuring the funds were used appropriately.
“The order apparently requires the Government to expend taxpayer dollars without regard to any processes for ensuring that the expenses are legitimate—even though Executive Branch leadership harbors concerns about the possibility of waste and fraud and is in the process of developing revised payment processing systems to address those concerns,” DOJ attorney Indraneel Sur wrote in the request for a stay.
According to Peter Marocco, the deputy administrator of USAID and head of foreign assistance at the State Department, executing the order would require processing $1.5 billion across 2,000 payment requests at USAID, along with an additional $400 million in pending payments at the State Department.
Judge Ali, a Biden-era appointee, sharply criticized the Trump administration’s legal team during Tuesday’s hearing over its failure to disburse funds owed to foreign aid groups for work completed before President Trump issued an executive order on January 20 that temporarily froze all foreign aid for 90 days. The judge reaffirmed his prior order, stating that the payments must be completed by the deadline.
“Plaintiffs submitted evidence that defendants have not lifted the suspension or freeze of funds as the [temporary restraining order] required. Defendants have not rebutted that evidence, and when asked today, defendants were not able to provide any specific examples of unfreezing funds pursuant to the Court’s TRO,” Ali said following the two-hour hearing.
During the proceedings, DOJ attorneys admitted that the Trump administration had not complied with the restraining order, which explicitly forbade them from halting foreign aid payments. However, they argued that they should not be obligated to release the funds due to “sovereign immunity.”
As the hearing progressed, Ali pressed a DOJ attorney on whether the administration had taken any action to unfreeze the funds, but the attorney struggled to provide a direct response.
“I’m not sure why I can’t get a straight answer from you on this. Are you aware of an unfreezing of the disbursement of funds for those contracts and agreements that were frozen before February 13?” Ali asked. “Are you aware of steps taken to actually release those funds?”
“I’m not in a position to answer that,” DOJ attorney Indraneel Sur replied.
Ali appeared frustrated by the lack of clarity. “We’re 12 days in and you’re here representing the government…and you can’t answer me whether any funds that you’ve kind of acknowledged or covered by the court’s order have been unfrozen?” he pressed.
“All I can do, really, is say that the preparations are underway for the joint status report on compliance,” Sur responded.
At one point, Sur attempted to justify the administration’s failure to comply with the restraining order, prompting a sharp rebuke from Ali. The judge made it clear that he would not entertain any efforts to revisit the terms of the order.
“The purpose of this hearing is to understand and to hear arguments on the motion to enforce TRO. It is not an opportunity to re-litigate the TRO,” Ali stated firmly.
On Tuesday, the Justice Department formally appealed Ali’s decision.
Meanwhile, an attorney representing the nonprofit organizations that brought the case accused the administration of deliberately ignoring the court’s orders.
“What the court’s colloquy with the government has revealed is that the government has done nothing to make the flow of payments happen,” the attorney said. “As far as we are aware, there’s been zero directives from the agency with respect to the unfreezing of funds.”
{Matzav.com}