Judge voids Trump’s $1.8 billion settlement as self-dealing

WASHINGTON (MNTV) — A federal judge has thrown out a settlement between President Donald Trump and the Justice Department, ruling that the two sides were not genuine opponents and that the arrangement amounted to self-dealing dressed up as litigation.

Trump sued the Internal Revenue Service for $10 billion earlier this year, alleging the agency failed to prevent the release of his tax records during his first term.

The Justice Department — the government’s own lawyers — then settled with him, agreeing to set aside $1.8 billion for a fund to compensate people the administration says were victims of government weaponization and political legal targeting. The deal also handed Trump broad tax-related protections.

US District Judge Kathleen Williams found the settlement appeared designed to use judicial authority to legitimize an arrangement benefiting the president and people close to him, while steering billions in taxpayer money toward claims with no basis in existing law.

Courts, she warned, cannot be used as instruments to validate agreements that sit outside constitutional and legal bounds, and judges are obliged to ensure proceedings serve a real legal purpose.

Williams also questioned the role of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who appeared to be representing both Trump and the Justice Department — the clearest illustration of the problem.

Civil litigation requires two adverse parties; here, the president sued the government and the government agreed to pay him.

The proposed Anti-Weaponization Fund had already drawn bipartisan resistance in Congress. The ruling turns that political objection into a legal defeat, and sharpens the question of what remains of the Justice Department’s independence when it settles a lawsuit against itself on terms favorable to the president who runs it.