A US federal judge has scrapped a deal between President Donald Trump and the IRS to protect him, his family and associated businesses from further IRS audits, stating the deal was a misuse of court system. In a biting order, US District Judge Kathleen Williams said the suit upon which the deal was based was filed with an “improper purpose,” which was a mechanism to subvert the court, not resolve actual legal claims.
“This case is not a case where we have adversariness between two parties with opposing positions .
The plaintiff and the defendants are both acting on behalf of the same party-the federal government,” Williams wrote.
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The deal would have come out of a $10 billion lawsuit filed by Trump over a leak of his tax returns; part of that suit called for a $1.8 billion settlement to alleged victims of government “weaponization.”
It also would have provided Trump with blanket immunity from future audits by the agency; part of the deal about the settlement fund already had been withdrawn due to Republican and Democratic outrage but the audit immunity provision stood until Thursday.
Williams said the deal cannot be cited in future litigation and referred to the Trump lawyer who signed the agreement, Alejandro Brito, and the DOJ lawyers who helped negotiate it, to respective bar authorities. She also criticized the conduct of DOJ officials saying it tarnishes the integrity of the judiciary.
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The voiding of the agreement does not re-file the Trump’s initial suit against the IRS, but legal analysts say the ruling at least removes any claim the deal would have provided Trump and his interests with legal cover going forward, while putting a spotlight on the administration’s actions in the suit.
It follows months of debate about accountability for president and his executive control over the federal government.
