The Dictatorship
Judge orders Trump to respond to fraud claims over IRS lawsuit settlement
A federal judge on Friday ordered President Donald Trump to address allegations that he committed fraud on the court in the settlement of his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS and whether the deal was designed to improperly benefit Trump and his allies.
In her order, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams cited a request filed Wednesday by 35 former federal judges calling on her to reopen the case and look into whether the out-of-court settlement “is a product of collusion and is itself a fraud on the Court.” In their court filingthe former judges say Trump and his co-plaintiffs failed to mention any plans of a settlement in their motion to withdraw the lawsuit against the IRS.
Earlier this month, Trump voluntarily withdrew his civil lawsuit against the IRS, in which he had sought $10 billion in damages from the agency over the leak of his past tax returns. Shortly after, the Justice Department announced it was creating an “anti-weaponization” fund as part of a settlement with Trump that establishes a pool of nearly $1.8 billion in taxpayer money earmarked to compensate people who claim to be victims of the government’s “weaponization.” Through an addendum issued the next day, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche also released Trump, his family and his companies from any tax liability accrued through mid-May.
“The Court was deceived,” the former judges wrote in their Wednesday court filing, noting that the Justice Department’s settlement was announced shortly after Trump’s attorneys filed to dismiss the lawsuit.
“That ‘settlement’ commandeers the contrived sum of $1.776 billion from the United States Treasury, to be handed out to recipients chosen by a commission effectively controlled by the President,” the former judges wrote.
The unprecedented compensation fund drew criticism from lawmakers from both parties.
House Democrats denounced the settlement as a “slush fund” and “super-pardon” created to benefit Trump and his family. Some lawmakers were concerned the funds would be awarded to people involved in the riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Blue Light News reported on a bipartisan House effort to stop the “anti-weaponization” fund.
This week, Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., told reporters that he did not sign off on the creation of the fund and insisted that no taxpayer money be given to “any January 6 insurrectionist.”
“I do not think one penny of any fund should ever go to any January 6 insurrectionist that was in the Capitol,” Flood said Tuesday. “I want to be very clear: I do not think we should be creating a fund for people that commit physical violence against law enforcement.”
Williams, appointed to the bench by then-President Barack Obama, gave Trump’s attorneys until June 12 to respond to the fraud allegations and address whether the lawsuit should be reopened over fraud on the court.
Carla Herreria is an editor for MS NOW’s breaking news and liveblog team. She was previously a senior assignment editor at HuffPost.