Overview
- U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. Williams, who issued her order Friday, denied a 90‑day pause for settlement talks and set briefs for May 20 with a hearing on May 27 in Miami.
- Her order asks whether Trump and the defendant agencies are truly on opposite sides, citing executive directives that require executive branch lawyers to follow the president’s legal views even as the Justice Department must defend the IRS.
- Both sides told the court they were in discussions to resolve the case, and any settlement would be paid by the federal government, which means public funds could go to the president and his family.
- Trump, his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization sued the IRS and Treasury in January, alleging failures to protect confidential returns after contractor Charles Littlejohn leaked them; Littlejohn pleaded guilty and received a five‑year sentence in 2024.
- The judge noted Trump has called it “very interesting” to be on both sides of a lawsuit, a dynamic that has prompted ethics warnings about collusive litigation and the risk of court‑blessed payouts from agencies he directs.