A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to release some foreign aid payments by Monday evening to U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) contractors and nonprofits who challenged the freeze, a decision he called the “first concrete step” toward compliance with his previous order to resume existing foreign aid contracts.

U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, an appointee of former President Biden, said the government must release the payments by 6 p.m. on Monday and that he would weigh a timeline for releasing the rest of the funds while he considers whether to grant injunctive relief to the plaintiffs as litigation is ongoing.

The new schedule comes after the Trump administration for weeks attempted to fend off Ali’s order to resume existing foreign aid contracts. The administration has broadly looked to dismantle USAID, including by firing employees and freezing its payments to........

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