Judge criticizes acting attorney general's role in Trump-IRS settlement
A federal judge said acting Attorney General Todd Blanche should not have represented the government in a settlement with President Trump over an IRS lawsuit, citing conflicts of interest and urging sanctions.
A U.S. District Court judge has ruled that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche acted inappropriately by representing the government in a settlement with President Donald Trump related to a lawsuit over the leak of the president’s tax returns. The judge said the settlement, which created a $1.8 billion fund and granted audit immunity to Trump and his family, showed that the president’s interests and the Department of Justice’s interests were effectively the same.
"Indeed, the DOJ seems to have purposefully adopted the strategy of creating a ‘slush fund disguised as a settlement, and then doling the money out to whatever constituency the Executive wants bankrolled,’" Judge Kathleen M. Williams wrote in her order.
Williams noted that Blanche’s legal arguments gave the president unprecedented deference, contrasting with the government’s earlier vigorous defense of its actions in related cases. After Blanche filed a voluntary dismissal of the case, the parties announced a settlement that included the anti-weaponization fund and audit immunity for the Trump family and the Trump Organization.
When questioned by Congress, Blanche claimed the settlement did not need judicial review because the case had been dismissed. The judge rejected that view, stating that a dismissal does not remove the court’s authority to address collateral issues and that Blanche should not have represented the government in the matter.
The order also referenced an executive order signed by Trump that allows the president to direct agency litigation, concluding that this demonstrated the president’s intent to control the Department of Justice in the case. Williams recommended monetary sanctions against Trump and referred the opinion to the State Bar of New York and the District of Columbia for possible disciplinary action. The ruling arrives shortly before Blanche is scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on his pending confirmation as Attorney General.