A Florida federal judge in a blistering order on Monday said that President Donald Trump had 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 Justice Department that briefly led to the creation of a $1.8 billion fund to compensate purported victims of prosecutorial misconduct.
Judge Kathleen Williams also barred Trump, the Justice Department and other parties in the case from using “the purported ‘settlement agreement’ ” in judicial or other proceedings as evidence of a settlement of the lawsuit.
The settlement in May included a provision that protected Trump, his family members and related business entities from tax audits and enforcement actions in connection with tax returns 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 “lawfare” fund, which was part of the settlement, and which was abandoned after blowback by members of Congress over concerns that it could be used to compensate people who attacked the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot there.
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 new 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.
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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