The Justice Department said Monday it will abide by a federal judge’s order blocking the Trump administration’s $1.776 billion fund for victims of what it describes as government weaponization during the Biden administration.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton serving in the Eastern District of Virginia, temporarily blocked the DOJ from creating the fund or disbursing money from it while a lawsuit challenging the program proceeds. She also scheduled a June 12 hearing on whether to keep the injunction in place.

“The Department of Justice disagrees strongly with the decision on the Anti-Weaponization Fund put forth by the United States District Court Judge in the Eastern District of Virginia, wherein the Court stated that, under no circumstances, may the Department of Justice proceed with the Anti-Weaponization Fund recently established in order to make up for the tremendous abuse, harm, and hate unfairly shown to so many people,” the DOJ posted Monday on X.

“This Fund was open to anybody who was so weaponized, targeted, or persecuted, whether they were Democrat, Republican, Conservative, Independent, or otherwise. The Department will abide by the Court’s ruling,” the post stated.

The fund stems from a settlement of a $10 billion lawsuit filed against the IRS by Trump, his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization. They argued the agency should have done more to prevent former IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn from disclosing tax information to The New York Times, ProPublica, and what Trump’s legal team described as “other left-wing media outlets.”

The settlement also included provisions barring future IRS tax-related claims and audits involving Trump, his family, and affiliated businesses, according to reports.

But The New York Times, citing two people familiar with the matter, reported Monday night that Trump is backing off the plan to establish the fund. The people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the president’s thinking, said he had been leaning for days toward scrapping the fund.

It was unclear whether getting rid of the fund would affect the provision allowing Trump, his family, and his businesses significant immunity from audits. Still, some administration officials privately expressed relief that the judge’s ruling showed a way out, the Times reported.

The fund drew cheers from Trump allies and criticism from Democrats calling it a slush fund that could be used by those convicted for their roles in the events of Jan. 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol.

Reports that the fund was being halted came after House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., met with Trump at the White House to discuss the fund.

A senior administration official told Axios on Monday, “It’s dead for now.”

Another administration official told Axios, “This has become a distraction. The president believes government was weaponized against people — it wasn’t just him. But this isn’t the time and vehicle for it.”

One of the officials told the outlet, “The plan right now is to halt it. But the president likes the fund; he believes in it. So nothing is final until it’s final.”