Overview
- This week President Trump's lawyers asked the Eleventh Circuit to pause a July sanctions order and to let their appeal proceed while they seek to revive the May settlement with the IRS.
- U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams voided the May deal on July 13, finding the litigation collusive, imposing monetary and professional penalties, and barring parties from referring to the settlement in official proceedings.
- The Justice Department under Attorney General Todd Blanche filed a brief in the Eleventh Circuit, signed by Acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter, arguing Williams' order should be overturned and the settlement defended.
- Williams' sanctions have real career consequences: one Trump lawyer was referred to the Florida Bar and another was barred from practicing in the Southern District of Florida for a year.
- The dispute has wider stakes because the settlement sought to shield Trump and his businesses from IRS audits and could have affected a roughly $100 million tax assessment, and dozens of former federal judges are poised to oppose any stay or reassignment.