President Donald Trump's Justice Department is threatening to ignore court rulings in a new filing, according to an expert.
On Monday, the DOJ filed a response in New York to a judge's ruling involving Trump's efforts to freeze federal funding.
Last week, the court approved a temporary restraining order to stop the Office of Management and Budget freeze on paying the U.S. bills and cease federal spending that Congress previously approved.
In its filing Monday that followed the restraining order, the DOJ wrote, "Given that the Plaintiffs only challenged the OMB Memorandum, Defendants do not read the Order to prevent the President or his advisors from communicating with federal agencies or the public about the President’s priorities regarding federal spending. Nor do Defendants construe the Order as enjoining the President’s Executive Orders, which are plainly lawful and unchallenged in this case."
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According to legal journalist Cristian Farias, a contributor at Vanity Fair, the final details in the filing "suggests the Trump administration is ready to ... ignore the court."
"Further, Defendants do not read the Order as imposing compliance obligations on federal agencies that are not Defendants in this case. Defendants respectfully request that the Court notify Defendants if they have misunderstood the intended scope of the Court’s Order," stated the end of the filing above the signature of acting Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate.
