US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, May 20, 2026. Trump is traveling to Connecticut to deliver the inaugural address at the United States Coast Guard Academy.
Chip Somodevilla | getty images
The $10 billion lawsuit President Donald Trump recently dismissed against the Internal Revenue Service should be reopened so the judge overseeing it can investigate “whether any fraud occurred.” 35 former federal judges argued Wednesday.
Trump, his two eldest sons and the Trump Organization on May 18 abruptly dropped their case against the IRS and the Treasury Department, based on leaks of their tax information in 2019 and 2020 by an ex-IRS employee.
According to Miami District Court Federal Judge Kathleen Williams ordered the case dismissed with prejudice, given that the move cancels upcoming deadlines related to its efforts to investigate the case.
He also said in his judgment that the plaintiff made no reference to the settlement and the defendants did not produce any settlement document.
The same day, the Justice Department announced that as part of settlement agreement In the case, the US Attorney General will set aside $1.776 billion”Anti-Weapon Fund.”
A day later, the DOJ disclosed an addendum to the agreement that effectively protects the plaintiffs and certain affiliates from any IRS enforcement regarding their past tax returns.
“The court was deceived,” the former judges wrote. filed in court Wednesday afternoon.
“Despite Plaintiffs not mentioning any settlement in their notice, (DOJ) publicly announced the ‘settlement’ of this action immediately after Plaintiffs filed their dismissal,” they wrote.
He argued that the settlement “raises deep questions about the parties’ candor towards the Court and the manipulation of the judicial system, which threatens to undermine confidence in the administration of justice.”
Retired judges joining the filing include J. Also included is Michael Luttig, who testified before the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
Former judge wants to “raise the challenge of fraud” through this rule 60 Federal rules of civil procedure, he says, allow Williams to reopen the case. As an alternative, he urged Williams to reopen the proceedings himself.
In any case, they want the court to “vacate the judgment in this suit,” allowing it to “re-commence its investigation into whether there is a genuine underlying case or dispute, or whether, on the contrary, this ‘case’ which the parties have stated has been ‘settled’ is itself a fraud on the Court.”
The judges stressed that the settlement was “the product of collusion and a fraud on the Court itself.” But Williams is not required to immediately agree to rescind his dismissal, he argued.
Reopening the case “will allow the Court to commence an investigation into whether the Court was deceived, including in relation to the existence of the underlying case or dispute and any alleged arms-length negotiations undertaken to resolve it.”
The White House referred CNBC to the Justice Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the filing. The IRS and the Trump Organization did not immediately comment on the filing.