Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free
Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world
Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service had “no viable basis in law or fact” and was brought for the “improper purpose” of legitimising a legally dubious deal, a US judge ruled on Monday.
In a withering 56-page decision, Judge Kathleen Williams cast Trump’s $10bn complaint over his leaked tax information as an act of self-dealing that was filed in “bad faith” against a federal agency he oversees as US president.
It is the latest example of the courts impugning the motives of the president and his administration, and comes days before Trump’s acting attorney-general, Todd Blanche, is set to face senators for his confirmation hearing.
The lawsuit was “an attempt to use the court to provide some legitimacy to an agreement to confer immunity to people and entities affiliated with the president and to earmark billions of dollars from American taxpayers to redress grievances not defined in the law”, Williams said.
Trump reached a settlement with the IRS in May that created a $1.8bn fund for victims of purported “weaponisation and lawfare” and gave the president and his eldest sons, Don Jr and Eric, immunity from existing IRS tax audits. The so-called “anti-weaponisation” fund was later dropped.
Williams barred Trump and the government from citing the settlement in future judicial or regulatory proceedings, casting doubt on whether the president and his family will be able to reap the benefits of the immunity deal.
The judge said when Blanche spoke for Trump and the government by declaring the fund scrapped before any agreement was filed in court, it proved “there was only one party whose interests were being represented throughout this case”.
Blanche is expected to face sharp questioning about his ties to Trump, his former criminal defence client, and his independence from the White House in his confirmation hearings before the Senate judiciary committee this week.
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
While Williams had initially closed the case, she agreed to examine the validity of the IRS deal after a motion from former judges raised concerns about the settlement. She ultimately determined that “there was never a case or controversy; and there was never a question as to who would prevail”, the filing says.
The order also refers one of Trump’s personal lawyers to the Florida Bar for possible disciplinary action and directs the New York and DC Bars, where Blanche and associate attorney-general Stanley Woodward face ethics complaints, to be informed of her ruling.
A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said the IRS “wrongly allowed a rogue, politically motivated employee to leak private and confidential information” about the president, his family and their business, which was then “illegally released to millions of people”.
“President Trump continues to hold those who wrong America and Americans accountable,” they said.
Credit: Source link
