Trump's Lawyers Insist There Is 'No Evidence' of 'Collusion or Fraud' in His 'Settlement With Myself'
"I'm supposed to work out a settlement with myself," President Donald Trump told reporters a few days after he sued the IRS. He wasn't kidding: His January 29 lawsuit, which alleged damages from an IRS contractor's illegal leaking of his tax returns, pitted Trump against an agency he oversees, represented by Justice Department lawyers who also answer to him.
The "settlement" that the president reached with himself, which Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced on May 18, included $1.8 billion in taxpayer money for purported victims of the Biden administration's "lawfare and weaponization." It also included protection from liability for tax violations and any other federal offenses that Trump or his family might have committed. That sweet deal was business as usual at the Justice Department, Trump's personal lawyers improbably claim in a brief they filed on Monday in the Southern District of Florida.
There is "no evidence" of "collusion or fraud" in Trump v. IRS, Alejandro Brito and two other lawyers told U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, who last month ordered briefing on that issue. Any suggestion that Trump used a phony lawsuit as a pretext to obtain huge favors for himself, his relatives, and his supporters is based on "nothing but speculation," Trump's attorneys say.
Brito et al. glide over the glaring conflicts of interest created by a case in which both sides were represented by lawyers who worked for Trump. Further compromising the Justice Department's ability to defend the IRS, an executive order that Trump issued in February 2025 bars the government's lawyers from taking legal positions at odds with the president's.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/trumps-lawyers-insist-no-evidence-145012273.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
I admit that I am a geek. I found and read trump's filing late last night. I was NOT impressed. Basically, there was no collusion and there was a real "case or controversy" (this is required for the court to have jurisdiction) because they say so. I was NOT impressed
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/12/trump-lawyers-no-collusion-trump-administration-anti-weaponization-fund-00961288
The Friday night filing with a federal judge in Miami was the first public defense of the settlement by Trump’s private attorneys since it came under intense attack by lawmakers, prompting the administration to retreat from the planned $1.8 billion fund for victims of allegedly politicized investigations and indictments.
Trump sued the agency for $10 billion in January over the 2020 leak of his tax returns by an IRS contractor who subsequently pleaded guilty to the breach. The lawsuit raised immediate questions about a conflict raised by the sitting president suing an agency he oversees. But Trump quickly abandoned the suit as details about the settlement began to emerge.
Trump’s lawyers invoked a federal court rule that allows plaintiffs in a case to drop it early in the litigation without explanation or substantive involvement by the judge....
Attorneys for President Donald Trump are rejecting allegations that they defrauded a federal court in Florida by bringing a lawsuit against the IRS — only to settle with the Trump-led Justice Department in a deal crafted to establish a so-called “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”
The Friday night filing with a federal judge in Miami was the first public defense of the settlement by Trump’s private attorneys since it came under intense attack by lawmakers, prompting the administration to retreat from the planned $1.8 billion fund for victims of allegedly politicized investigations and indictments.
Trump sued the agency for $10 billion in January over the 2020 leak of his tax returns by an IRS contractor who subsequently pleaded guilty to the breach. The lawsuit raised immediate questions about a conflict raised by the sitting president suing an agency he oversees. But Trump quickly abandoned the suit as details about the settlement began to emerge.
Trump’s lawyers invoked a federal court rule that allows plaintiffs in a case to drop it early in the litigation without explanation or substantive involvement by the judge.
Again, for a federal court to have jurisdiction, there must be a "case or controversy". trump was on both sides of this litigation and this brief wants to ignore reality.
This will be fun to watch.
