President Trump isn’t worried that Iran will hurt Republicans’ midterm chances
President Donald Trump has said he is not worried about the 2026 midterm elections because the fallout from the Iran war could hurt the Republican Party’s chances.
WASHINGTON – A bipartisan group of 35 federal judges has asked a federal court in Florida to reopen a lawsuit between President Donald Trump and the Internal Revenue Service and investigate whether the parties’ out-of-court settlement was a fraud on the court.
In a May 27 court filing, the former judges argued that President Trump and his co-plaintiffs did not mention the settlement plan in their motion to dismiss the case against the IRS. The Justice Department last week agreed to create a much-criticized $1.766 billion “anti-weaponization” fund that would collect payments to Trump’s political allies in exchange for Trump voluntarily dropping the case.
“The court was deceived,” the 24-page complaint says, adding that the settlement “orders an artificial amount of $1.776 billion from the U.S. Treasury to be delivered to recipients chosen by a committee effectively controlled by the President.”
President Trump sued the IRS and Treasury Department in January for $10 billion in damages over leaks of past tax returns, effectively suing his government.
The voluntary dismissal of the case means that U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, who is overseeing the case, did not rule on the merits of the case, nor did she consider the settlement the plaintiffs reached with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, President Trump’s former personal lawyer.
“This purported ‘settlement’, which the parties have never submitted to this court, raises serious questions about the parties’ integrity with the court and the operation of the judicial system, and threatens to undermine confidence in the administration of justice,” the 35 former judges wrote in their motion.
They said reopening the case would allow the court to “begin an investigation into whether the court was deceived, including the existence of the underlying litigation and controversy and the arm’s length negotiations that allegedly took place to resolve it.”
Former judges say settlement was ‘not legally justified’
Former judges asking the court to reopen the case include former U.S. District Judge Michael Luttig, a prominent conservative judge and one of the key witnesses at the House Select Committee hearing on January 6th.
Although the former judges are not parties to the lawsuit, they cited federal rules of civil procedure that allow a federal court to vacate a judgment for misconduct against the court.
“Let me be clear: the parties’ settlement is not and will never be legally justified,” the motion says, alleging that Blanche unfairly imposed a judgment on AG officials and asked them to compromise the settlement when she created the Anti-Weaponization Fund. “Both authorities require the existence of a legitimate case, not collusion, misrepresentation, or fraudulent litigation as here.”
The agreement with the IRS also includes assurances that the tax agency will no longer pursue any tax liability claims that Trump, his family, or his companies may have.
President Trump and his administration have faced fierce bipartisan criticism over the Anti-Weaponization Fund, which has few guardrails for the allocation of funds.
Blanche said anyone is welcome to apply for compensation, but the fund was designed to make payments to individuals who Trump and others say were unfairly targeted by prosecutors in past Democratic administrations. Blanche and other administration officials have not ruled out the possibility that checks could be sent to the roughly 1,600 Trump supporters who violently stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, including some convicted of assaulting police officers.
A five-member committee, each appointed by Mr. Blanche, will be responsible for deciding which claimants will receive awards from the fund, the Justice Department said.
Two police officers who protected the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack have sued the Trump administration, seeking to block the anti-weaponization fund.
President Trump has defended the fund amid backlash, writing in Truth Social last week that it is “helping those who have been horribly abused by the evil, corrupt, and weaponized Biden administration finally receive justice.”
X Contact Joey Garrison at @joeygarrison.
