A federal judge delivered a stern warning to the Trump administration that it must abide by a court order to unfreeze foreign-aid funding, but he stopped short Thursday of holding administration officials in contempt of court for continuing to hold up some of the money.

A federal judge last week blocked the State Department’s foreign aid pause. In a court filing, Trump administration lawyers argued they can freeze the aid anyway.

The Washington, D.C., district court judge said administration officials had used his Feb. 13 order to temporarily lift the freeze on foreign aid to instead “come up with a new, post-hoc rationalization for the en masse suspension” of funding.

Officials cite other legal authorities — not Mr. Trump’s court-blocked directives — to keep withholding foreign aid and domestic grant money.

The Trump administration said in court filings late on Tuesday that it is not disbursing funds for thousands of foreign aid contracts and grants despite a federal judge's order last week to lift a widespread freeze on foreign aid funding.

A judge last week ruled that the freeze on foreign aid must be reversed. But Trump's USAID team responded that many contracts give them the right to halt funding.