Trump appeals ruling finding he colluded with DOJ in $10B IRS suit

Provpnadvice.com – The Trump administration on Friday appealed a ruling from a federal judge in Florida who found the president effectively colluded with his own government in bringing a $10 billion suit against the IRS.

That suit, which the Justice Department pointed to as the basis for creating its $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, was highly criticized by Florida-based U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, who said the case was “brought to manipulate the judicial process.”

The Department of Justice (DOJ) never needed the litigation to create the fund, and Williams’s ruling did not block it, though she did order the parties to not refer to the fund as a settlement in the case.

But it nonetheless shows the Trump administration’s appetite for continued battle over the fund and could indicate an effort to revive the president’s suit against the IRS.

It comes as Trump has faced roadblocks in the Senate to confirming his pick to lead the DOJ, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, as two GOP senators have asked the top attorney to put in writing his pledge to end the anti-weaponization fund.

The filing from Trump’s legal team contains no legal arguments and instead is a notice of appeal to the 11th Circuit that it will be challenging Williams’s ruling.

It was highly critical of the Trump team for bringing the suit, saying there was no true conflict in the case, as required for bringing a matter before the courts.

“In sum, the facts before this Court demonstrate there was never adverseness between the Parties; there was never a case or controversy; and there was never a question as to who would prevail,” Williams wrote in the 56-page filing earlier this month.

She faulted Trump for waiting until he was in office to bring the case, noting he had the ability to fire everyone else involved in the litigation.

“The Court determines that Plaintiffs improperly employed this lawsuit to justify a particular award in this matter—access to taxpayer funds and exemption from audits and other investigations—which was accomplished by leveraging control over Defendants,” she wrote later, adding that the suit was “brought to manipulate the judicial process.”

Some aspects of Williams’s rulings may be little affected by the appeal. She recommended sanctions for several attorneys involved in the case, including for New York authorities to be notified of her ruling as the bar there investigated his conduct.

Williams reopened the case at the request of a group of former judges — the matter had otherwise been taken out of her hands when Trump and the Justice Department sidestepped her by voluntarily dismissing the case and then announcing their settlement, including the creation of the anti-weaponization fund.

Trump is facing heightened scrutiny of the outcome of his IRS case, which includes not just the creation of the anti-weaponization fund but another memo signed by Blanche leaving the government “barred and forever precluded” from investigating Trump, his family members or his businesses for any of their past conduct.

Though that memo gives those people and entities broad immunity over all kinds of conduct, it also would leave the IRS unable to collect on Trump’s past tax returns that have been under audit and could result in a tax bill as high as $100 million.

Trump on Thursday threatened to withdraw Blanche’s nomination, saying he might simply try and wait out two lame duck GOP senators leaving in January: John Cornyn (Texas) and Thom Tillis (N.C.).

The two have become the leading voice of many Republicans who are opposed to the fund, who argue taxpayer money should not be funneled to Trump allies.

“The President made it clear today that the so-called Anti Weaponization Fund is still alive, which is exactly why we are attempting to formally end it. While I never disagreed that the Biden Administration pursued a number of vindictive prosecutions related to January 6, the criminals who assaulted police officers and defiled our nation’s Capitol are not ‘great American patriots’ who are ‘victims of government abuse.’ Anyone who attacked law enforcement should still be in prison, not getting a check from the federal government,” Tillis wrote on X on Friday.

“I will continue working in good faith to put an end this legal and political albatross and prevent any potential misallocation of taxpayer dollars.”