Judge blasts Trump for using the presidency to ‘manipulate’ courts in IRS case

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump “acted in bad faith” when he swiftly dropped his tax return lawsuit and directed his Cabinet members to establish a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, a federal judge in Florida ruled Monday.

Federal Judge Kathleen Williams of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida excoriated Trump, his sons Eric and Don Trump Jr., and their private Trump Organization for using the presidency to “manipulate the judicial process to pursue benefits unavailable in litigation.”

The Trumps and their private company voluntarily dropped a $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service in May in exchange for the departments of Justice and Treasury creating a $1.776 billion fund for alleged “victims of lawfare.”

Critics pounced on the settlement as a “slush fund” for “cop beaters,” referring to Jan. 6 defendants who assaulted police officers. Trump pardoned all Jan. 6 rioters on the first day of his second term. 

The Department of Justice maintained the fund was open to victims of any political leanings.

Williams, appointed during President Barack Obama’s first term, noted in her order the pot of settlement money was created to “fund claims premised on events including those arising from, inter alia, the Mar-a-Lago Documents Case and the events of January 6, 2021.”

The settlement agreement, signed May 18 by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward and IRS Chief Executive Officer Frank Bisignano, also forever absolved Trump, his sons and the Trump Organization from government prosecution and tax enforcement.

“No sitting President has ever sued federal agencies completely subject to his control for monetary benefits, or any benefits that inure to him, his family, and associates. The failure of any attorney in this case to address, on this docket, the relationship of this Article II proscription with the benefits conferred by the ‘settlement’ is a glaring omission that speaks to the control of the Lead Plaintiff,” Williams wrote in the 56-page order.

Lawyers, Trump and family cited

Williams referred Trump’s attorney Alejandro Brito to the Florida Bar for review of possible disciplinary action, and will prohibit for at least one year applications to the Southern District of Florida by Trump’s other attorney, Daniel Z. Epstein.

Trump, his sons and the Trump Organization are “prohibited from referring to the purported ‘settlement agreement,’ or using, offering, admitting, or citing any of its provisions in any judicial, administrative, regulatory, arbitration, or any other official proceeding as evidence of a ‘settlement’ reached in this matter,” Williams wrote. 

Further, she ordered the Trumps and their company to reimburse fees for attorneys appointed by the court to examine Trump’s case against the IRS, an agency under his control as president.

35 former judges

The president and his family sued the IRS in January over the late 2019 leak of their tax information to news media by a government contractor. The contractor had already been sentenced for the leak in early 2024.

The creation of the “anti-weaponization” fund sparked lawsuits, including from two former police officers who deployed to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Trump’s IRS case was revived in late May when 35 former federal judges intervened, arguing the settlement fund was “a product of collusion and is itself a fraud on the Court.”

Lawyers representing the former federal judges hailed Williams’ ruling.

“The court’s opinion is a resounding victory for the rule of law. We are proud to represent these former judges in presenting the arguments that the court adopted,” according to a statement from Norm Eisen, co-founder and board member of Democracy Defenders Action, Matt Platkin, founding partner of Platkin LLP, and Susman Godfrey.

The Trumps and their private business maintained the president sued the IRS in his personal capacity and that the court lacked authority to review the settlement.

In her order Monday, Williams said the court declined to “accept the credulous exercise of divorcing President Trump’s current job title from an understanding of what happened here.”

Promise to scrap fund

Outrage over the fund, including from members of Trump’s own party, delayed the Senate’s eventual passage of a bill to fund Trump’s mass deportation agenda for the rest of his term.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testified to Congress on June 2 that the administration would scrap the fund.

The White House referred States Newsroom to the president’s personal attorneys for comment. 

A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said in a statement, “The IRS wrongly allowed a rogue, politically-motivated employee to leak private and confidential information about President Trump, his family, and the Trump Organization to the New York Times, ProPublica and other left-wing news outlets, which was then illegally released to millions of people. President Trump continues to hold those who wrong America and Americans accountable.”

The departments of Justice and Treasury did not immediately respond to a request for comment.