{"id":406,"date":"2026-07-14T19:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T19:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/?p=406"},"modified":"2026-07-14T19:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T19:12:10","slug":"a-judge-officially-confirmed-what-everyone-knows-about-todd-blanche-and-donald-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/?p=406","title":{"rendered":"A Judge Officially Confirmed What Everyone Knows About Todd Blanche and Donald Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sign up for <\/em>Executive Dysfunction<\/em>, a newsletter that highlights one under-the-radar story each week about how Trump is changing the law\u2014or how the law is pushing back. You\u2019ll also receive updates on the latest from Slate\u2019s Jurisprudence team.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Lindsey Graham Finally Had Exactly What He Wanted<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s shaping up to be a rough week for acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. Just as he awaits a sure-to-be-contentious confirmation hearing in his quest to secure the top job at the Justice Department, a federal judge has released a scathing assessment of his work on the president\u2019s suit against the IRS. It details Blanche\u2019s blatantly unlawful conflict of interest when he brokered a \u201csettlement\u201d with President Donald Trump; the arrangement, which irked even the most MAGA Republicans, sought to establish a nearly $1.8\u00a0billion \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund to pay out the president\u2019s supporters. The deal also included an agreement that bans the IRS from ever auditing Trump, his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization over past tax returns. The judge\u2019s conclusion confirmed what we\u2019ve all been thinking: The acting AG and the president\u2019s interests in this case were \u201cone and the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cIndeed, the DOJ seems to have purposefully adopted the strategy of creating a \u2018slush fund disguised as a settlement, and then doling the money out to whatever constituency the Executive wants bankrolled,\u2019\u00a0\u201d U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. Williams wrote in an order, released on Monday, breaking down the culmination of against the IRS. Filed in January\u2014a few months before the statute of limitations\u2014the president sought $10\u00a0billion from the U.S. government over the agency\u2019s leak of his tax returns by a former federal contractor back in 2020. Williams found that Blanche had used weak legal arguments that allowed unprecedented deference to Trump, when, in prior lawsuits related to this same IRS leak, the federal government had \u201czealously\u201d defended its actions, denying that it could be held liable because of the contractor. When it came to Trump, however, suddenly the Department of Justice was singing a different tune.<\/p>\n

By May, less than six months after Trump had filed his lawsuit, Blanche was submitting a voluntary dismissal with prejudice to Williams, essentially moving the case out of her jurisdiction. Hours later, a tranche of headlines announced that the two parties had reached a settlement agreement. Trump agreed to drop the suit in exchange for the federal government\u2019s establishing a $1.8\u00a0billion anti-weaponization fund, paid for through the Treasury Department, to anyone who alleges that the Biden administration \u201cweaponized\u201d the legal system against them\u2014aka Jan.\u00a06 rioters\u2014plus IRS-audit immunity for the Trump family and business over past tax returns. And when Blanche was called to Congress to testify about this, he claimed he had not shared the settlement agreement with Williams because \u201cthere is no judge\u201d now that the case had been dismissed, and therefore there was \u201cno mechanism\u201d for reviewing the agreement. Days later, Williams decided to reopen the case.<\/p>\n

In her order, she responded to Blanche\u2019s testimony by clarifying that a dismissal does not \u201cdeprive the court of authority to resolve issues collateral to the merits.\u201d Moreover, she stated, Blanche should never have been representing the federal government in this case, particularly given the settlement agreement\u2019s anti-weaponization fund. It\u2019s intended for people prosecuted by the Biden administration for participating in the Jan.\u00a06 insurrection, an event that resulted in a criminal indictment against Trump too. And guess who represented the president in that case? (Hint: It was Blanche.)<\/p>\n

Read more How the Safest Advice in Democratic Politics Fell Apart<\/a><\/p>\n

The biggest takeaway from Williams\u2019 order is her conclusion that \u201cPlaintiffs do in fact control Defendant\u00a0\u2026 and that no case or controversy exists between Plaintiffs and [Defendant], necessitating Defendant\u2019s dismissal from the present case.\u201d The smoking gun here is Trump\u2019s executive order \u201cEnsuring Accountability for All Agencies,\u201d which he signed last year. It includes a section that explicitly addresses the president\u2019s ability to direct the federal government\u2019s conduct in litigation. \u201cThe President and the Attorney General, subject to the president\u2019s supervision and control<\/em>, shall provide authoritative interpretations of law for the executive branch.\u201d This, Williams says, proves Trump\u2019s \u201cintent to wield actual, comprehensive control over Defendants in this matter.\u201d No matter how legitimate or well reasoned Blanche\u2019s arguments could have been in this case, they have lost their validity due to the way Trump has defined his relationship with federal agencies.<\/p>\n

Just two weeks ago, the Supreme Court essentially greenlit Trump\u2019s complete takeover of all executive agencies, including previously independent ones, in Trump v. Slaughter<\/em>, allowing presidents to remove subordinates at will because \u201cthen, and only then, can they remain accountable to the President, and the President to the people.\u201d This decision, hailed as a massive win for the White House, has come back to bite the president; Williams pointed out that in this IRS case, the administration conveniently argues the opposite, that the federal agencies Trump now controls but is attempting to sue can still be \u201csufficiently adverse to establish an actual case or controversy.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, the DOJ\u2019s responsibility is to zealously represent the interests of the U.S., not the president, and Blanche has violated the agency\u2019s commitment to remain insulated from political influence. \u201cThere is \u2018an expectation that even the Attorney General must be able to draw the line between political allegiance and fidelity to the people, as well as the fair administration of law,\u2019\u00a0\u201d Williams wrote.<\/p>\n

The judge concluded her order by demanding \u201cmonetary sanctions\u201d against Trump and requiring that the opinion be sent to the State Bar of New York and the District of Columbia for potential disciplinary proceedings. Meanwhile, what does this mean for Blanche\u2019s confirmation for the AG job? It\u2019s hard to say, but Williams\u2019 order, coming days before Blanche is set to testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, seems to confirm the concerns even some Republicans have about Blanche\u2019s willingness to actually be the people\u2019s lawyer, not the president\u2019s.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more The Supreme Court Gave Trump a New Way to Break the Government<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s shaping up to be a rough week for the acting attorney general.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[26,24,10,18,11],"class_list":["post-406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jurisprudence","tag-capitol-riot","tag-department-of-justice","tag-donald-trump","tag-judiciary","tag-jurisprudence"],"yoast_head":"\nA Judge Officially Confirmed What Everyone Knows About Todd Blanche and Donald Trump - Home Move Chronicle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/?p=406\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Judge Officially Confirmed What Everyone Knows About Todd Blanche and Donald Trump - 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