President Donald Trump participates in a bilateral meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on the sidelines of the G7 Summit on June 17, 2026, in Evian-les-Bains, France. (Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump “acted in bad faith,” quickly dropped a tax return lawsuit and directed members of his cabinet to create a $1.8 billion “anti-gun” fund, a federal judge in Florida ruled Monday.
Federal Judge Kathleen Williams of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida sharply criticized Trump, his sons Eric and Don Trump Jr. and their private Trump Organization for using the presidency to “manipulate the judicial process to obtain advantages not available in litigation.”
In May, the Trumps and their private company voluntarily dropped a $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service in return for the Departments of Justice and Treasury to establish a $1.776 billion fund for alleged “victims of illegal activity.”
Critics he lunged regarding the settlement as a “slush fund” for “beating cops,” referring to the Jan. 6 defendants who assaulted police officers. On the first day of his second term, Trump pardoned all participants in the January 6 riots.
The Justice Department maintained that the fund was open to victims of any political leanings.
Williams, appointed during President Barack Obama’s first term, noted in her order that the settlement pool was established to “fund event-based claims, including those arising from, but not limited to, the Mar-a-Lago Documents case and the events of January 6, 2021.”
The settlement agreementsigned on May 18 by Deputy Attorney General Stanley Woodward and IRS Director General Frank Bisignano also forever absolved Trump, his sons, and the Trump Organization from government prosecution and tax enforcement.
“No sitting president has ever sued federal agencies wholly under his control for monetary benefits or any benefits accruing to him, his family and his associates. The failure of any attorney in this case to address the relationship of the Article II prohibition to the benefits conferred by the ‘settlement’ is a gross omission that demonstrates the control exercised by the lead plaintiff,” Williams wrote in a 56-page brief order.
Lawyers quoted Trump and family
Williams has referred Trump lawyer Alejandro Brito to the Florida Bar for consideration of possible disciplinary action and will bar another Trump lawyer, Daniel Z. Epstein, from filing applications with the Southern District of Florida for at least a year.
Trump, his sons and the Trump Organization are “prohibited from relying on the purported ‘settlement’ or using, offering, admitting or citing any provisions thereof in any judicial, administrative, regulatory, arbitration or any other official proceeding as evidence of the ‘settlement’ reached in this matter,” Williams wrote.
Additionally, she ordered the Trumps and their company to pay back the fees of court-appointed attorneys to investigate Trump’s case against the IRS, an agency he controlled as president.
35 former judges
The president and his family sued the IRS in January over the leak of tax information to the media in behind schedule 2019 by a government contractor. The contractor was already there convicted for a leak in early 2024.
The highlight was the creation of an “counter-weapons” fund. lawsuitsincluding from the previous two Police officers who were deployed to the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Trump’s case with the IRS reopened in behind schedule May when 35 former federal judges intervened, arguing that the settlement fund was “the product of collusion and itself constituted a fraud on the Court.”
Lawyers representing former federal judges welcomed Williams’ ruling.
“The court’s opinion is a resounding victory for the rule of law. We are proud to represent these former judges in presenting the court’s reasoning,” according to a statement from Norm Eisen, co-founder and board member of Democracy Defenders Action, Matt Platkin, founding partner of Platkin LLP, and Susman Godfrey.
The Trumps and their private business maintained the president sued the IRS in his own name and that the court had no authority to review the settlement.
In her Monday order, Williams said the court refused to “accept the naive exercise of parting ways with President Trump’s current position based on an understanding of what happened here.”
Promise to scrap the fund
Outrage over the fund, including from members of Trump’s own party, delayed final passage by the Senate of a bill to finance Trump’s mass deportation program for the rest of his term.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testified before Congress on June 2 that the administration would scrap fund.
The White House referred States Newsroom to the president’s personal attorneys for comment.
A spokesman for Trump’s legal team said in a statement: “The IRS wrongfully allowed a dishonest, politically motivated employee to leak private and confidential information about President Trump, his family and the Trump Organization to the New York Times, ProPublica and other left-wing news outlets, which was then illegally shared with millions of people. President Trump continues to hold those who harm America and Americans accountable.”
A Department of Justice spokesperson provided States Newsroom with a written statement.
“There was no collusion in this case, and a biased judge who speculated otherwise disregarded decades-old precedent. The case was brought by President Trump on his own behalf, as well as several of his family members who were victims of admitted violations of the law. There was a lively dispute as the plaintiffs sought relief that the government did not provide. The plaintiffs did not receive any money and could not receive any money from the now-defunct Anti-Gun Fund,” the court said. spokesman.
The Treasury Department did not respond to a request for comment.
