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A federal judge signaled Friday she may reopen a legal case between President Trump and his own government that led the Justice Department to create a controversial $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization fund,” ordering the president’s lawyers to respond to allegations of “deception” and “fraud.”
U.S. Judge Kathleen Williams issued the four-page order after dozens of retired federal judges asked her to reopen the president’s lawsuit, arguing the government and Mr. Trump may have “deceived” Williams into dismissing the case.
Williams wrote that the former judges raised “grievous allegations” that Mr. Trump sought to dismiss the case “solely to avoid judicial scrutiny of a lawsuit that ‘was collusive from the start’ and was only filed to provide the imprimatur of legality for an unlawful settlement.”
She directed the president to file a response by June 12, laying out their responses to the former judges’ allegations of “collusion” and “deception,” and “the question of whether the case should be reopened because the Court was the ‘victim of a fraud.'”
It’s the latest legal roadblock for the “anti-weaponization fund.” Earlier Friday, a different federal judge temporarily barred the Justice Department from moving forward with work on the multibillion-dollar fund, following a separate lawsuit.
The case arrived on Williams’ docket earlier this year, when Mr. Trump sued the Internal Revenue Service for allegedly allowing his tax returns to leak. Williams signaled that she planned to look into whether the lawsuit was legally valid since Mr. Trump effectively sat on both sides of the table. But earlier this month, she dismissed the suit at the president and the Justice Department’s request and said there was no “settlement of record.”
Hours after the case was dismissed, the Justice Department announced it had settled the case by agreeing to set up a $1.776 billion fund to pay out people who allege they were victims of government “weaponization.” The government also promised not to take action against Mr. Trump for any issues related to his old tax returns.
The deal drew immediate criticism, with Democrats casting it as a “slush fund” for Trump allies and some Republicans raising questions about whether convicted Jan. 6 rioters could get payouts. The Justice Department has defended the fund, insisting it will be apolitical and all decisions will be made by a panel of five people appointed by the attorney general.
On Wednesday, a coalition of 35 former federal judges asked Williams to reverse her dismissal of the case and reopen it. They argued the settlement “is a product of collusion and is itself a fraud on the Court,” and said Williams should look into whether she was “deceived” about whether the case was valid or whether there were “arms-length negotiations undertaken to resolve it.”
Williams wrote Friday that she has the power to investigate “serious misconduct,” including whether filings are made for an “improper purpose,” and impose sanctions if needed.
“A party’s decision to file a frivolous lawsuit for the sole purpose of forcing a settlement may qualify as such an improper purpose,” she wrote.
The Justice Department and a spokesman for Mr. Trump’s legal team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
