U.S. President Donald Trump on the South Lawn of the White House on Sunday.

President Donald Trump’s administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to intervene in its bid to withhold billions of dollars in foreign aid authorized by Congress, part of the Republican President’s effort to scale back U.S. assistance abroad.

The Justice Department asked the court to halt Washington-based U.S. District Judge Amir Ali’s order requiring administration officials to take steps to spend around US$4-billion that they have sought to claw back, according to a lawyer for the plaintiffs who challenged Trump’s action.

The money at issue in the case was intended by Congress for foreign aid, United Nations peace-keeping operations and democracy-promotion efforts overseas.

Congress budgeted bi

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