The Trump administration got a slap on the wrist from a judge Thursday who took issue with the administration's seeming defiance of his order to lift its funding freeze on foreign aid, according to a report.
U.S. District Court Judge Amir Ali warned the administration it must comply with his previous court order to unfreeze foreign aid funding. Ali found the administration didn't fully comply with his Feb. 13 order to suspend the blanket freeze.
In a seven-page order, Politico noted he "seemed troubled" by complaints coming out of aid groups that much of the aid remained frozen despite his order. It came after a Trump official told the court Tuesday the vast majority of the payments remained suspended, according to the report.
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Ali delivered a stern rebuke to the Trump administration, warning his previous order was "clear," according to the report. Ali said the Trump administration is trying to use alternative justifications to continue withholding funds.
“The Court was not inviting Defendants to continue the suspension while they reviewed contracts and legal authorities to come up with a new, post-hoc rationalization for the en masse suspension,” wrote Ali, an appointee of President Joe Biden. “To the extent Defendants have continued the blanket suspension, they are ordered to immediately cease it.”
Ali did not hold administration officials in contempt of court, as sought by aid groups who said Peter Marocco and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were in "brazen defiance" of the court's order.
