A Florida federal judge in a scathing order Monday said President Donald Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service “for an improper purpose” — to gain the appearance of “judicial legitimacy” for a controversial settlement with the Department of Justice.
That settlement briefly led the DOJ to create a since-abandoned $1.8 billion “lawfare” fund to compensate purported victims of prosecutorial misconduct.
Judge Kathleen Williams, in her new order on Monday, barred Trump, the DOJ and other parties in the case from using “the purported ‘settlement agreement’ ” reached in May in judicial or other proceedings as evidence of a settlement of the lawsuit.
The settlement included a provision that protected Trump, his family members and related business entities from audits and enforcement actions related to tax returns they filed before the settlement was reached.
Williams’ order suggests that Trump no longer had such protection.
It also implies that the Justice Department cannot resurrect its $1.8 billion fund, which was quickly abandoned after blowback by members of Congress over concerns it would be used to compensate people who attacked the U.S. Capitol and police there during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by Trump supporters.
Williams in her order also referred Trump’s lawyer in the lawsuit, Alejandro Brito, to the Florida bar for consideration on whether Brito should be disciplined in light of the findings in the order.
And Williams ordered that a copy of her ruling in U.S. District Court in Miami be mailed to the State Bar of New York, of which Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is a member, as well as to the District of Columbia Bar, of which Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward is a member.
Trump has nominated Blanche to serve as attorney general. The Senate Judiciary Committee is due to hold hearings on Blanche’s nomination on Wednesday and Thursday.
A spokesman for Trump’s legal team, which includes Brito, in a statement responding to the order, said, “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 spokesman said.
CNBC has requested comment from the Justice Department.
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