A federal judge has expressed doubt about the viability of Donald Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS, hinting she may dismiss it because Trump effectively controls the very agencies he is suing. Judge Kathleen Williams surfaced the issue in a Friday ruling that also rejected a bid to pause proceedings while settlement discussions were underway. She observed that the relationship between Trump and the defendants — the Treasury Department and the IRS — may lack sufficient opposition to move the case forward, according to ABC News.
"Moreover, although President Trump avers that he is bringing this lawsuit in his personal capacity, he is the sitting president and his named adversaries are entities whose decisions are subject to his direction. Indeed, President Trump's own remarks about this matter acknowledge the unique dynamic of this litigation," she wrote.
The IRS is funded by taxpayers, defended by government lawyers paid by taxpayers, and any potential $10 billion payout would ultimately come out of public funds, too. So, in a very real sense, taxpayers would be footing the bill on both sides. The amicus brief, calling it "collusive litigation," hints at just how unusual and ethically tangled the whole thing is.
Williams directed both Trump's legal team and the Justice Department to file written arguments in support of continuing the lawsuit, and scheduled a hearing for next month. To clear that bar, both sides must demonstrate that the suit constitutes a genuine legal conflict between truly opposing parties.
"Typically, adverseness is found in a situation where one party is asserting its right and the other party is resisting," she noted.
However, given that Trump has authority over the very agencies he is suing, Williams suggested that the necessary antagonism between the two sides may simply not exist. She also pointed out that Trump has issued several executive orders that have further consolidated presidential control over agencies such as the Department of Justice.
"One such employee of the executive branch, the Attorney General, has a statutory obligation to defend the IRS when it is hailed into court, but then is ostensibly required by executive mandate to adhere to the President's opinion on a matter of law in such a case. This raises questions over whether the Parties here are truly antagonistic to each other," Williams noted.
And all of this is because a contractor leaked his returns back in 2018-2020, making his tax dodging public. As I noted earlier this month, attorneys for Trump argued that the unauthorized release of his tax returns constitutes a separate legal violation for every person who viewed the leaked information. So, a whopping $10 billion in damages. According to Team Trump, the public finally seeing the actual numbers behind the golden toilet empire, is worthy of robbing $10 billion from taxpayers.
And it's not just Trump. Two of Trump's sons sued the IRS with their daddy. The Trumps are openly robbing hard-working taxpayers.
This exchange in February between Sen. Ruben Gallego and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is worth watching:
