A Biden-appointed judge on Tuesday blasted DOJ lawyers over USAID disbursement and ordered the Trump Administration to pay the foreign contracts by 11:59 pm on Wednesday evening.
Earlier this month, US District Judge for the District Court of Columbia, Amir Ali, a Biden appointee, temporarily blocked President Trump from cancelling foreign aid contracts.
Judge Ali ordered the Trump Admin to restore funding for the foreign aid contractors after Trump froze US foreign aid for 90 days last month.
Last month, after Trump’s executive order to halt foreign aid grants, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued new guidance to temporarily pause spending on most foreign aid for 3 months.
Marco Rubio said the State Department will issue waivers on a case-by-case basis.
Non-profit groups sued to have their funds restored.
A couple of weeks ago Judge Amir Ali, said Trump’s order halting foreign funding has caused enormous harm.
“At least to date, Defendants have not offered any explanation for why a blanket suspension of all congressionally appropriated foreign aid, which set off a shockwave and upended reliance interests for thousands of agreements with businesses, nonprofits, and organizations around the country, was a rational precursor to reviewing programs,” Judge Ali wrote in a 15-page order reviewed by The Gateway Pundit.
On Tuesday, Judge Ali dressed down DOJ lawyers over the disbursement of funds.
“I don’t know why I can’t get a straight answer from you. Are you aware of an unfreezing of the disbursement of funds for those contracts and agreements that were frozen before Feb. 13?” Judge Ali said to the DOJ lawyers according to a telephone hearing attended by Politico reporter Kyle Cheney.
Judge: “I don’t know why I can’t get a straight answer from you. Are you aware of an unfreezing of the disbursement of funds for those contracts and agreements that were frozen before Feb. 13?”
DOJ lawyer: “I’m not in a position to answer that.”
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) February 25, 2025
Reuters reported:
A federal judge in Washington on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to pay foreign aid funds to contractors and grant recipients by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday night, saying there was no sign that it had taken any steps to comply with his earlier order that the funds be unfrozen.
U.S. District Judge Amir Ali’s order came in a telephone hearing in a lawsuit brought by organizations that contract with and receive aid from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department. It applies to work done before February 13, when the judge issued his earlier temporary restraining order.
It was the third time Ali had ordered the administration officials to release foreign aid funds that were frozen after President Donald Trump ordered a 90-day pause on all foreign aid, throwing global humanitarian relief efforts into chaos.
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