Posted on 07/13/2026 1:16:54 PM PDT by lowbridge
A federal judge on Monday nullified an agreement the government reached with Donald Trump and his sons over the leak of his tax returns. The judge lambasted the government and president’s lawyers for using the judicial process to try to concoct a beneficial arrangement for the president.
The ruling from US district judge Kathleen Williams in the southern district of Florida blocks a widely criticized arrangement the government and the president’s attorneys reached earlier this year to resolve a $10bn lawsuit by Trump and his sons over the leak of the president’s tax returns. The government never responded to the lawsuit and then announced it was settling the suit by creating a $1.8bn slush fund to compensate victims of “government weaponization” and giving the president, his family, and related entities immunity from tax audits.
Amid bipartisan backlash, the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, announced the justice department was scrapping the fund, but the tax immunity provisions remained in place.
In her ruling on Monday, Williams, who was nominated to the bench by Barack Obama, said there had never been a genuine controversy in the case – a requirement for any lawsuit – since Trump controlled the treasury department. She also sanctioned Trump’s lawyers for their conduct before the court.
“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,” she wrote.
“The court finds that this matter was brought for an improper purpose – to gain the imprimatur of judicial legitimacy for a ‘settlement’ that had no
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Would laugh, but with Demoncraps, it could be true.
Another judge with no jurisdiction or a brain.
There are ample precedents of left wing activist groups filing cases in which they demand sweeping actions from federal agencies ... and then a democrat administration rolling over and granting the whole wish list as a "judicial settlement."
It is obviously collusive and pre-arranged, designed to circumvent legislatures and even normal processes for developing federal regulations, which require a long, formal process.
Quick lawsuit, quick capitulation, judicial settlement, settled law of the land, nothing to see here, move along.
Of course it's abusive. Of course it should be stopped. There are so many scalps on the wall already that the left won't stop until we meet fire with fire.
I've argued for years that the school choice lobby should file suit in some district where the local pols are pro-school choice and anxious to expand vouchers or educational tax credits. And do a little quick judge shopping. File the suit, the defendants (including the federal DOE) roll over, quick judgment ... settled law of the land. Let the lefties howl.
Have the full vouchers for the next school year in parents' hands a couple of months later, and watch the dems self-destruct trying to take them away from low income, inner city parents desperate to get their kids into a better school.
Funny you should say that. I just noticed her “Adam’s Apple”.
Leaking tax records is a felony
So are similar agreements Obama and Biden did nullified?
Making fun of lawyers has always been done with good humor, even though some are truly scumbags. But I’m developing a visceral hatred of these leftist judges, and there’s nothing funny about it. It’s not productive to wish bad things on other people, but I definitely wish their judicial careers are unfulfilling, frustrating, painful, and short.
As if kathy’s never been wrong.............
In the words of Senator Lindsey Graham, A President is entitled to his appointments.
I guess he later modified his statement and added unless the President's name is Trump.
I’d say it’s just a silly question unfortunately.
Voting will NOT solve this.
And the same thing for Lisa Page and Peter Strozck.
Trump should get all the money he is owed in punitive damages as well, and everybody who has suffered from weaponized DOJ, FBI, IRS, etc should get to sue on their own, with the losing government personnel paying the court costs and damages out of their own pocketbooks, not from taxpayer funds.
Or, how about is there even ONE conservative judge willing to start dismantling every left-wing program he/she can get their hands on?
The government leaked Trump’s private information. For that, they should give him back all the money he paid in income tax and exempt him from paying the income tax forever.
Definitely looks the part.
Oh please. Every republican said ok to this judge.
How will we survive without that $250 he pays every year?
a December 2022 report from the House Ways and Means Committee indicated that Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes in both 2016 and 2017. In several other prior years, he reported significant business losses and paid no income taxes at all.
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