Trump's legal losing streak continues as judge blocks $130M food stamp cut

President Donald Trump added yet another notch to his belt of legal losses on Wednesday, as a federal judge ruled his Department of Agriculture cannot cut back nutrition assistance payments to Minnesota.

The preliminary injunction was first flagged by Politico's Kyle Cheney on X in the evening.

The restriction, announced earlier this week, shut off some $130 million in federal funding for food stamps. It was part of the Trump administration's efforts to play up allegations of widespread fraud in Minnesota's public benefits programs.

The Joe Biden administration had already investigated fraud cases and schemes in Minnesota in 2022 and convicted a handful of ringleaders; however, things exploded again when a right-wing YouTuber claimed, based on flimsy and now-disproven evidence, that the Somali-American community in Minneapolis is running fraudulent day cares with no kids enrolled to collect state payments.

Trump has been particularly obsessed with attacking the Somali diaspora in Minnesota, often calling for the deportation of Rep. Ilhan Omar, who was born in Somalia and fled violence as a child refugee.

The food stamp funding freeze was one of a number of measures Trump has launched as part of his vendetta against Minnesota. Another measure was to flood the Twin Cities with immigration agents, which led to massive backlash and outrage around the country after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot a 37-year-old mother of three in the head multiple times through the open window of her car.

Trump has even gone so far as to refuse to include Minnesota state law enforcement officials in the investigation of that incident, treating reporters to a long and disorganized rant about Mercedes-Benzes and imaginary election fraud when pressed on why.