A federal judge issued a "sharp rebuke" of President Donald Trump's repeated attempts to prevent food assistance money from being distributed to people in need, according to a new report.
On Thursday, Politico legal reporter Kyle Cheney reported on comments U.S. District Judge John McConnell of Rhode Island made during a hearing over the Trump administration's efforts to rescind congressionally approved funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps.
McConnell had previously ordered the administration to begin disbursing the funds on November 5. On Thursday, the administration admitted it had only approved a partial disbursement of benefits. Cheney reported that McConnell wasn't happy with the administration's response.
The judge went on to say that Trump's Truth Social post was essentially an admission of his "intent to defy the court order when he said 'SNAP payments will be given only when the government opens,'" Cheney wrote. As a result, "people will go hungry, food pantries will be burdened and … suffering will occur."
"It’s likely that SNAP recipients are hungry as we sit here," McConnell continued.
The judge also said that the president and his allies have admitted publicly to withholding SNAP benefits for "political reasons" rather than to preserve child nutrition programs, which the judge said was a pretext."
McConnell ordered that the Department of Agriculture, which runs SNAP, must now make the full payments by tomorrow.
