Trump v. IRS & the AG Confirmation Fight
The Lawsuit Trump Filed Against Himself Just Blew Up His Attorney General Pick
A federal judge voided the settlement, referred two lawyers for discipline, and mailed her opinion straight to the bar boards reviewing Todd Blanche — two days before his confirmation hearing, and one day after the Senate lost a vote it was counting on.
01What the judge actually ruled
President Trump sued the IRS for $10 billion over his leaked tax returns, then — as president — settled the case against his own administration. The settlement created a $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" and quietly barred future IRS audits of Trump, his family, and his businesses. Thirty-five former federal judges cried foul, calling it a fraud on the court.
"There was never adverseness between the Parties; there was never a case or controversy; and there was never a question as to who would prevail."
That's the core finding from U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams's 56-page order, issued today. She ruled the entire suit was filed for an improper purpose: to dress up an unlawful payout and audit shield in the appearance of a real court settlement.
- The order bars Trump, the DOJ, and the IRS from citing the settlement as evidence in any future proceeding — effectively voiding the audit-immunity provision.
- Trump's lawyer, Alejandro Brito, was referred to the Florida Bar for possible discipline.
- A second lawyer, Daniel Epstein, was barred from appearing in the Southern District of Florida for a year.
- Williams ordered a copy of her opinion sent directly to the bar boards in New York and D.C. that are already investigating Acting AG Todd Blanche and Associate AG Stanley Woodward.
02How we got here
03Why this collides with the AG hearing
The fund and audit deal aren't abstractions to the Senate Judiciary Committee — they're the reason several Republicans have withheld support from Blanche's nomination to be permanent Attorney General. His confirmation hearing was already scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, July 15–16, before today's ruling landed two days early with a judge's factual findings that the deal was fraudulent from the start.
101 former judges have already asked the New York bar to investigate Blanche over the fund, the audit shield, and DOJ's handling of the Epstein files. A parallel complaint targets Woodward in D.C. Williams's order doesn't file a new complaint — it feeds today's findings directly into the ones already open.
Meanwhile, Blanche's own DOJ has sued the D.C. Bar and proposed a rule letting the Attorney General pause state bar discipline against DOJ lawyers — an effort critics call an attempt to defang the only accountability mechanism left standing.
04Where the Senate stands
Democrats are expected to vote as a bloc against Blanche. That means Republicans can't afford a single defection in committee — and several remain genuinely undecided, for very different reasons.
05Then Graham died — and the math got worse
Sen. Lindsey Graham died Saturday night of an aortic dissection, days after returning from Ukraine. He sat on Judiciary, and he was one of Blanche's most reliable allies there — which means his absence doesn't just remove a seat, it removes a vote the White House was counting on.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster is expected to name a temporary replacement to serve through January 2027, with Trump publicly pushing for Graham's sister, Darline Graham Nordone. But an appointment to the Senate isn't the same as a seat on Judiciary — that requires a separate move by GOP leadership, and there's no confirmation yet that it happens before Wednesday.
On the floor, the picture is tighter still. With Graham's seat vacant and Sen. Mitch McConnell still hospitalized, a floor vote on Blanche would run at roughly 51 Republicans to 47 Democrats — well short of the nominal 53–47 majority.
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