President Donald Trump is appealing a federal judge's decision to continue investigating whether his lawsuit against the IRS was part of a greater scheme to mislead the court.
Trump filed his notice to appeal the ruling by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams ruled earlier this month that her court had the authority to continue probing a $10 billion lawsuit Trump, his family and businesses filed against the IRS for failing to safeguard his tax return information from leaks.
The parties announced a controversial out-of-court agreement in May in which the Justice Department — representing the IRS — would create a nearly $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization fund" to pay out purported victims of political retribution and the IRS would spare Trump and his businesses from ongoing audits.
In a blistering order July 13, Williams accused Trump of filing the lawsuit to "gain the imprimatur of judicial legitimacy for a 'settlement' that had no viable basis in law or fact." She also said exempting Trump from audits would violate a federal law that prohibits the White House from directing IRS investigations.
Williams also noted that the case itself defied legal procedure because Trump sued an administration he runs, essentially putting him in the position of both plaintiff and defendant.
"The court declines to adopt or accept the credulous exercise of divorcing President Trump's current job title from an understanding of what happened here," Williams, an Obama-appointed judge in the Southern District of Florida, wrote in her 56-page ruling. "The Lead Plaintiff and the Government are one, a fully realized unitary interest."
The administration has backed off the "anti-weaponization" fund, but the IRS audit shield for Trump remains in place, and has become a roadblock in Todd Blanche's bid to be confirmed as attorney general.
"The IRS wrongly allowed a rogue, 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 released to millions of people," a spokesman for Trump's legal team said in a statement. "President Trump continues to hold those who wrong America and Americans accountable."