A federal judge on Tuesday directed the Trump administration to unfreeze foreign aid funding within two days after indications that it was failing to comply with a previous court order to keep money flowing to aid groups around the world.
The State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development must release the funds and pay a number of bills by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, Judge Amir H. Ali of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia ruled.
Judge Ali had ordered the Trump administration on Feb. 13 to keep disbursing the funds pending the outcome of a lawsuit brought by two health organizations affected by President Trump’s executive order to pause most foreign aid for 90 days.
A hearing on Tuesday focused on the growing body of evidence that the Trump administration was flouting that order and exploiting various legal workarounds to keep the foreign assistance from flowing.
Judge Ali grew frustrated after pressing Indraneel Sur, a Justice Department lawyer, four times to cite any step the Trump administration had taken to release funds. But Mr. Sur appeared to draw a blank, taking long pauses before speaking and wandering back into legal arguments.
“I’m not sure why I can’t get a straight answer from you on this,” Judge Ali said at one point. “Are you aware of steps taken to actually release those funds?”
“I don’t have the ability to recite those specific facts,” Mr. Sur said.
Lauren Bateman, a lawyer representing the groups that had brought the lawsuit, told the judge her clients believed that associates of Elon Musk had continued “vetoing” payments as recently as Feb. 23, and that workers in the State Department’s bureaus had flagged that they remained cut off from funding systems this week.
Ms. Bateman added that many of the workers who used to oversee grants and payouts had already been suspended or fired, leaving “hardly anyone” left to comply with the court’s orders.
Judge Ali ordered the agencies to pay all invoices and “letter of credit drawdown requests,” on all contracts for work completed before his Feb. 13 order, including requests for reimbursement on grants and assistance agreements.
“Defendants shall take no actions to impede the prompt payments of appropriated foreign assistance funds, and shall take all necessary actions to ensure the prompt payments of appropriated foreign assistance funds,” he said.
The order on Tuesday was the second time a federal judge had granted a request for a “motion to enforce,” prodding the government to act following signs that it was not obeying an earlier ruling. Earlier this month, a federal judge in Rhode Island granted a similar request after finding that the Trump administration had continued to stall on releasing billions of dollars in federal grants that he had ordered be released.
Last week, Judge Ali declined to hold the government in contempt of court for defying the earlier order, but continued to press for details. On Tuesday, he also ordered the government to detail what steps it was taking to make payments in a status report due at noon on Wednesday.
The ruling also came as the Trump administration has attempted to slow-walk its compliance by invoking other legal authorities to effectuate the intended blanket freeze on foreign aid, including carrying out a comprehensive, line-by-line review process for foreign assistance grants.
When asked on Tuesday whether the government had taken any steps to resume payments, Mr. Sur brought up some of those statutes and regulations, apparently to justify why the government may not have done so.
“I assume you know it’s not enough to just come up with a legal authority,” Judge Ali said.
“I hope you understand why this is important, as the attorney advising your client,” he added.