Judge: Trump sought to 'manipulate the judicial process' with his IRS lawsuit and attempted $1.8B fund

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. Judge blasts Trump's IRS lawsuit as filed for 'improper purpose,' recommends attorney discipline

The recommendation for attorney discipline made me smile

A federal judge said Trump’s IRS lawsuit over leaked tax returns was for an “improper purpose” and referred his attorneys for disciplinary actions. Judge Kathleen Williams characterized it as an exercise in self-dealing in which Trump sued an entity he controls.
apnews.com/article/trum...

— Tim O’Brien (@timobrien.bsky.social) 2026-07-13T16:12:58.716Z

https://apnews.com/article/trump-irs-justice-department-61adebe5de8982eb214b30889ad4f251

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over his leaked tax returns was filed for an “improper purpose,” a judge said Monday in a scathing decision that recommended attorney sanctions and disciplinary action.

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams amounts to a stinging rebuke of the Republican president’s lawsuit, characterizing it as an exercise in self-dealing in which he sued an entity that is effectively under his control.

The suit concluded in May with a settlement agreement that created a since-abandoned $1.776 billion fund meant to compensate allies of the president, as well as immunity from tax audits.

“The nature of the suit itself and the conduct of the Parties and counsel from its filing make plain that this was an attempt to use the Court to provide some legitimacy to an agreement to confer immunity to people and entities affiliated with the President and to earmark billions of dollars from American taxpayers to redress grievances not defined in the law,” the judge wrote.