US District Judge Kathleen Williams of the Southern District of Florida has rebuked President Donald Trump's legal team, finding that his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS was brought for an "improper purpose" to legitimize a controversial Justice Department settlement.
The judge found that the case was brought for a purpose other than seeking justice, and she referred attorney Alejandro Brito to the Florida Bar for possible disciplinary action.
In her ruling, Williams stated that the parties involved in the lawsuit are not private actors but rather public servants who are sworn to uphold the law and protect the interests of the American public.
Trump, his two eldest sons, and the Trump Organization sued the IRS and Treasury Department seeking at least $10 billion in damages for failing to protect his confidential tax information after IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn leaked his records in 2019.
Williams found that Trump was using the lawsuit to advance his own interests while controlling the federal agency he had sued.
The lawsuit was initially intended to create an "Anti-Weaponization Fund" from the lawsuit settlement to compensate alleged victims of government "lawfare" as well as to halt IRS audits of Trump's finances.
However, the fund drew an enormous amount of scrutiny from Democrats, who called it a "slush fund" to personally benefit Trump and his allies.
The fund was later dropped after political backlash, with DOJ Acting Attorney General moving to walk back that portion of the proposed settlement.
The lawsuit now puts the controversial anti-weaponization fund back under the microscope as confirmation hearings begin for the nomination of a new attorney general.
Williams also called out the acting attorney general in her ruling, stating that he appeared to be speaking for both sides of the lawsuit.
The judge expressed her concerns about the acting attorney general's testimony, stating that while temporally accurate, his answer was "at best, misleading and, at worst, disingenuous."
