{"id":3218,"date":"2026-07-13T17:06:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T17:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=3218"},"modified":"2026-07-13T17:06:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T17:06:25","slug":"judge-says-trumps-irs-lawsuit-was-filed-for-improper-purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=3218","title":{"rendered":"Judge says Trump\u2019s IRS lawsuit was filed for \u2018improper purpose’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A federal judge has found that President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns was filed for an \u201cimproper purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Judge Kathleen Williams found that President Trump effectively controlled the IRS and treasury as head of the Executive Branch, which means the parties were not “truly adverse” and that there was “never a case or controversy.”<\/p>\n

According to the judge, the case was used to obtain “judicial legitimacy” for a settlement that otherwise lacked a legal basis and the plaintiffs acted in bad faith.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe nature of the suit itself and the conduct of the Parties and counsel from its filing make plain that this was an attempt to use the Court to provide some legitimacy to an agreement to confer immunity to people and entities affiliated with the President and to earmark billions of dollars from American taxpayers to redress grievances not defined in the law,\u201d the judge wrote.<\/p>\n

There have also been sanctions imposed on Trump’s attorneys. Trump’s Florida lawyer, Alejandro Brito, was referred to the Florida Bar. Daniel Epstein is barred from pro hac vice admission in the Southern District of Florida for one year.<\/p>\n

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The parties are also prohibited from citing, offering, or relying on the purported settlement agreement as evidence that a settlement was reached in this case.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn abdicating its responsibility to zealously defend the interests of the United States, the Government entered into a \u2018settlement\u2019 that deviated from its litigation posture in similar actions, disregarded DOJ policies, and accomplished objectives beyond those authorized, as well as those specifically prohibited, by law,\u201d Williams wrote.<\/p>\n

The U.S. government has since dropped tax claims against President Trump as part of the settlement deal meant to resolve the lawsuit. <\/p>\n

According to a one-page document posted to the Justice Department’s website, the U.S. is \u201cforever barred and precluded\u201d from examining or prosecuting Trump, his sons and the Trump organization\u2019s current tax issues.<\/p>\n

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A federal judge has found that President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns was filed for an \u201cimproper purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nJudge says Trump\u2019s IRS lawsuit was filed for \u2018improper purpose' - Arizona Moving Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=3218\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Judge says Trump\u2019s IRS lawsuit was filed for \u2018improper purpose' - Arizona Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A federal judge has found that President Donald Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns was filed for an \u201cimproper purpose.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=3218\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arizona Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-13T17:06:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=3218#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=3218\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9c272b4cf18e019eb01eb3c1b5d855fb\"},\"headline\":\"Judge says Trump\u2019s IRS lawsuit was filed for \u2018improper purpose’\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-13T17:06:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=3218\"},\"wordCount\":396,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=3218#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/a194b8e78dce09fe87a4c693f3b10a9f-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"National Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=3218#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=3218\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=3218\",\"name\":\"Judge says Trump\u2019s IRS lawsuit was filed for \u2018improper purpose' - Arizona Moving Insider\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=3218#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=3218#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/a194b8e78dce09fe87a4c693f3b10a9f-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-13T17:06:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9c272b4cf18e019eb01eb3c1b5d855fb\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=3218#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=3218\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=3218#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/a194b8e78dce09fe87a4c693f3b10a9f-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/a194b8e78dce09fe87a4c693f3b10a9f-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in flight on Air Force One after landing at U.S. Air Force Base at RAF Mildenhall, in Suffolk, Eastern England, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. 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