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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFormer Judges Urge Inquiry Into Deal Trump Struck With I.R.S. (New York Times Gift Article)
The motion was particularly significant because it asked the judge overseeing the initial suit against the I.R.S. to examine the terms of the deal.
Link to tweet
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/27/us/politics/judges-trump-deal-irs.html?unlocked_article_code=1.llA.A59s.cSlveLkHbttZ&smid=nytcore-ios-share
A bipartisan group of 35 former federal judges on Wednesday asked the judge who oversaw President Trumps remarkable lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service to reopen the case and conduct an inquiry into whether the hasty deal to resolve it could be challenged as an act of fraud.
The move by the former judges was one of an increasing number of legal efforts to attack the validity of the two extraordinary benefits that emerged from the agreement last week: a $1.8 billion fund that could compensate allies of Mr. Trump who claim they suffered weaponization at the hands of the federal government and the conferral of lucrative tax benefits on the president, his family and his businesses.
The motion by the former judges, filed in Federal District Court in Miami, was a direct appeal to Judge Kathleen M. Williams, who closed the I.R.S. case last week after Mr. Trump voluntarily dismissed his suit. It asked her to bring the matter back to life under a rule that permits her to set aside a judgment she had made and examine the terms of the deal that appeared to have been reached in a plan to avoid that sort of scrutiny......
At the heart of the former judges argument was an assertion that Mr. Trump improperly used his lawsuit against the I.R.S. as a way to obtain unlawful private benefits for himself and his family and to create a fund that would dole out taxpayer money without constitutional or congressional authority. Moreover, the former judges claimed that the president tried to shield the deal from judicial scrutiny by short-circuiting Judge Williams ability to examine its terms.....
Acknowledging that her hands were tied, Judge Williams quickly closed the case, but noted in her order that there had never been a settlement of record. Within hours, however, the terms of a deal surfaced in public in an agreement that was signed by a senior Justice Department official and detailed how the fund would work. The next day, the department released an addendum to the agreement giving the Trump family its own extraordinary boon: immunity from all past I.R.S. investigations.
In their court papers, the former judges laid out that sequence of events, telling Judge Williams that it showed the fraudulent nature of the agreement. The judges said she did not have to rule immediately that settlement was invalid, suggesting that she could first commence an inquiry into the whether the court was deceived.
The move by the former judges was one of an increasing number of legal efforts to attack the validity of the two extraordinary benefits that emerged from the agreement last week: a $1.8 billion fund that could compensate allies of Mr. Trump who claim they suffered weaponization at the hands of the federal government and the conferral of lucrative tax benefits on the president, his family and his businesses.
The motion by the former judges, filed in Federal District Court in Miami, was a direct appeal to Judge Kathleen M. Williams, who closed the I.R.S. case last week after Mr. Trump voluntarily dismissed his suit. It asked her to bring the matter back to life under a rule that permits her to set aside a judgment she had made and examine the terms of the deal that appeared to have been reached in a plan to avoid that sort of scrutiny......
At the heart of the former judges argument was an assertion that Mr. Trump improperly used his lawsuit against the I.R.S. as a way to obtain unlawful private benefits for himself and his family and to create a fund that would dole out taxpayer money without constitutional or congressional authority. Moreover, the former judges claimed that the president tried to shield the deal from judicial scrutiny by short-circuiting Judge Williams ability to examine its terms.....
Acknowledging that her hands were tied, Judge Williams quickly closed the case, but noted in her order that there had never been a settlement of record. Within hours, however, the terms of a deal surfaced in public in an agreement that was signed by a senior Justice Department official and detailed how the fund would work. The next day, the department released an addendum to the agreement giving the Trump family its own extraordinary boon: immunity from all past I.R.S. investigations.
In their court papers, the former judges laid out that sequence of events, telling Judge Williams that it showed the fraudulent nature of the agreement. The judges said she did not have to rule immediately that settlement was invalid, suggesting that she could first commence an inquiry into the whether the court was deceived.
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Former Judges Urge Inquiry Into Deal Trump Struck With I.R.S. (New York Times Gift Article) (Original Post)
LetMyPeopleVote
Wednesday
OP
A whopper of a court filing just now from about three dozen retired former federal judges
LetMyPeopleVote
Wednesday
#1
MaddowBlog-Trump to abandon $1.776 billion compensation fund amid bipartisan backlash, source says
LetMyPeopleVote
20 hrs ago
#5
LetMyPeopleVote
(182,786 posts)1. A whopper of a court filing just now from about three dozen retired former federal judges
yellow dahlia
(6,614 posts)2. It is nice to see The Rule of Law in action.
Thank you Judge Luttig, et al.
malaise
(298,430 posts)3. Good
Rec
Swede
(40,225 posts)4. K&R
LetMyPeopleVote
(182,786 posts)5. MaddowBlog-Trump to abandon $1.776 billion compensation fund amid bipartisan backlash, source says
The president was left with a choice: Keep fighting an uphill battle or back down from a fight he was likely to lose. He apparently went with the latter.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
— LunaLuvgood2020 (@lunaluvgood2020.bsky.social) 2026-06-01T19:43:33.262Z
BREAKING NEW
Trump to abandon .776 billion compensation fund amid bipartisan backlash, source says
The president was left with a choice: Keep fighting an uphill battle or back down from a fight he was likely to lose. He apparently went with the latter.
ð
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-to-drop-anti-weaponization-fund
A few days after the Trump administration unveiled its $1.776 billion compensation fund, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche went to Capitol Hill to brief Senate Republicans on the details and answer their questions. He likely expected some modest pushback, since a handful of GOP senators had already gone on record announcing their opposition to what they described as a slush fund.
But Donald Trumps former defense lawyer probably wasnt prepared for the ferocity of the response from those in attendance. In fact, we dont even have to speculate based on leaks from unnamed officials: Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said on his podcast that his Senate colleagues screamed at Blanche, as part of one of the roughest meetings Ive seen in my entire time in the Senate.
Fiery does not begin to cut it, Cruz added. My guess is there [were] probably 45 senators in the room; at least half of them were blasting the attorney general, and they were pissed.....
The president was left with a choice: Keep fighting an uphill battle for a brazenly corrupt scheme or back down from a fight he was likely to lose. He apparently went with the latter.....
By any fair measure, the fund never shouldve existed in the first place, and many legal scholars characterized it as the single most corrupt step ever taken by an American president. The initiative began with an outlandish $10 billion lawsuit Trump filed against his own administration over the leak of his tax returns during his first term, which he dropped as part of an agreement to create a $1.776 billion fund that would compensate victims of the Biden administration, notwithstanding the inconvenient fact that Republicans have never been able to identify any actual, legitimate victims.
There are some key questions that have not yet been answered. For example, the day after the administration announced the fund, Blanche unveiled an addendum of sorts, which said the Internal Revenue Service would no longer scrutinize past or present alleged tax irregularities surrounding the president, his family, and his controversial businesses. The development, among other things, freed Trump from having to worry about a potential $100 million penalty.
Whether this arrangement remains intact as the White House backs off from the existence of the fund remains unclear.
But Donald Trumps former defense lawyer probably wasnt prepared for the ferocity of the response from those in attendance. In fact, we dont even have to speculate based on leaks from unnamed officials: Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said on his podcast that his Senate colleagues screamed at Blanche, as part of one of the roughest meetings Ive seen in my entire time in the Senate.
Fiery does not begin to cut it, Cruz added. My guess is there [were] probably 45 senators in the room; at least half of them were blasting the attorney general, and they were pissed.....
The president was left with a choice: Keep fighting an uphill battle for a brazenly corrupt scheme or back down from a fight he was likely to lose. He apparently went with the latter.....
By any fair measure, the fund never shouldve existed in the first place, and many legal scholars characterized it as the single most corrupt step ever taken by an American president. The initiative began with an outlandish $10 billion lawsuit Trump filed against his own administration over the leak of his tax returns during his first term, which he dropped as part of an agreement to create a $1.776 billion fund that would compensate victims of the Biden administration, notwithstanding the inconvenient fact that Republicans have never been able to identify any actual, legitimate victims.
There are some key questions that have not yet been answered. For example, the day after the administration announced the fund, Blanche unveiled an addendum of sorts, which said the Internal Revenue Service would no longer scrutinize past or present alleged tax irregularities surrounding the president, his family, and his controversial businesses. The development, among other things, freed Trump from having to worry about a potential $100 million penalty.
Whether this arrangement remains intact as the White House backs off from the existence of the fund remains unclear.
We had two different courts challenge this "fund" as to whether it was a "fraud on the court." The DOJ was not up to litigating these issues and so trump backed down