一名联邦法官下令特朗普政府向多个非营利组织发放数百万美元，认定特朗普政府违反了两周前发布的关于冻结外国援助的临时限制令的条款。
艾米尔·阿里法官是拜登时代任命的，他在周二的漫长听证会上严厉批评特朗普政府的律师，因为他们未能为特朗普总统1月20日行政命令之前的工作支付报酬，该命令冻结了所有外国援助90天。阿里还签署了一项命令，强制执行他在2月13日签署的临时限制令，规定这些团体必须在周三晚上11点59分之前支付工资。
“原告提交的证据表明，被告没有按照[临时限制令]的要求解除暂停或冻结资金。被告没有反驳这些证据，当今天被询问时，被告不能提供任何根据法院的TRO解冻资金的具体例子，”阿里法官在今天两个小时的听证会后说。
司法部的律师承认，特朗普政府无视临时限制令，该命令禁止他们自命令发布以来冻结外国援助资金。相反，他们认为不应该因为“主权豁免”而要求他们还钱。
在与阿里的长时间交流中，一名DOJ律师难以回答有关特朗普政府遵守临时限制令的基本问题，该限制令阻止了特朗普政府冻结资金。
“我不知道为什么我不能从你这里得到一个直接的答案。你知道那些在2月13日之前被冻结的合同和协议的资金支付被解冻了吗?”阿里问。"你知道实际发放这些资金的步骤吗?"
“我没有资格回答这个问题，”DOJ律师Indraneel Sur说。
“我们已经12天了，而你在这里代表政府...你不能回答我你承认的或者被法院命令覆盖的资金是否被解冻了?”阿里法官回应道。
苏尔说:“我所能做的，真的，就是说，关于遵守情况的联合状态报告的准备工作正在进行中。”。
在漫长的法庭听证会的一部分，苏尔试图为特朗普政府的不遵守行为提供法律依据，促使法官对他的命令做出严厉回应，他说，这些条款“一清二楚”。
“本次听证会的目的是了解并听取关于强制执行TRO的动议的论点。这不是对TRO提起诉讼的机会，”阿里说。
DOJ周二提交了上诉通知。
一名代表提起诉讼的非营利组织的律师辩称，特朗普政府缺乏回应相当于无视法院命令。
他说，“法院与政府的谈话显示，政府没有采取任何措施让资金流动起来。”。“据我们所知，该机构没有任何解冻资金的指示。”
Federal judge rules Trump administration has to pay millions in foreign aid to nonprofits
A federal judge is ordering the Trump administration to dole out millions of dollars to multiple nonprofit groups, determining the Trump administration violated the terms of a temporary restraining order issued two weeks ago regarding freezing foreign aid.
Judge Amir Ali, a Biden-era appointee, excoriated Trump administration attorneys during a lengthy hearing on Tuesday over its failure to pay the groups for work they conducted prior to President Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order, which froze all foreign aid for 90 days. Ali also signed an order to enforce a temporary restraining order he signed on Feb. 13, ruling the groups must be paid by 11:59 p.m. Wednesday.
“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,” Judge Ali said after a two-hour hearing today.
Lawyers with the Department of Justice acknowledged that the Trump administration ignored the temporary restraining order, which prohibited them from freezing foreign aid funds since the order was issued. Instead, they argued that they should not be required to pay back the money because of “sovereign immunity.”
During an extended exchange with Ali, a DOJ lawyer struggled to answer basic questions about the Trump administration’s compliance with the temporary restraining order, which prevented the administration from freezing funds.
“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 said.
“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?” Judge Ali responded.
“All I can do, really, is say that the preparations are underway for the joint status report on compliance,” Sur said.
At one portion of the lengthy court hearing, Sur attempted to offer a legal justification for the Trump administration's noncompliance, prompting a stern response from the judge about his order, the terms of which he said were “clear as day.”
“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 said.
The DOJ filed a notice of appeal Tuesday.
A lawyer representing the nonprofits who brought the case argued that the lack of a response from the Trump administration amounts to defiance of the court order.
“What the court's colloquy with the government has revealed is that the government has done nothing to make the flow of payments happen,” he said. “As far as we are aware, there's been zero directives from the agency with respect to the unfreezing of funds.”
