A federal judge has strongly criticized President Donald Trump for repeatedly trying to stop food assistance money from reaching people who need it the most, according to a new report.
On Thursday, Politico reporter Kyle Cheney shared details about what U.S. District Judge John McConnell from Rhode Island said during a court hearing. The hearing was about the Trump administration’s attempt to block money that Congress had already approved for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps.
Judge McConnell had earlier ordered the Trump administration to start sending out these payments by November 5. But during Thursday’s hearing, government officials admitted that they had only released part of the funds instead of the full amount. The judge was visibly frustrated by this, saying that the administration’s actions showed clear disregard for the court’s order.
He pointed out that one of Trump’s posts on Truth Social actually confirmed his intention to ignore the ruling. In that post, Trump wrote that “SNAP payments will be given only when the government opens,” which the judge said was proof that the president planned to defy the court. McConnell said this refusal to release funds meant that “people will go hungry, food banks will be overwhelmed, and unnecessary suffering will occur.”
“It’s likely that SNAP recipients are hungry as we sit here,” McConnell said during the hearing, stressing the real human impact of the administration’s delay.
The judge also accused Trump and his allies of using people’s hunger as a political weapon. He said they were holding back food benefits for political reasons—not because of any genuine concern about maintaining other child nutrition programs, as they claimed.
In the end, Judge McConnell issued a firm order demanding that the Department of Agriculture, which oversees SNAP, release all of the remaining food assistance payments by the next day. He made it clear that the court would not tolerate any further excuses or delays when millions of Americans depend on this support to eat.
