Attorney General Todd Blanche took the oath at the White House on Monday. The next day, the Justice Department filed a brief in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals supporting Donald Trump’s private lawyers as they tried to overturn a federal judge’s sanctions order, according to court records highlighted Wednesday by Politico’s Josh Gerstein.
The brief asks the appeals court to stop and overturn an order that could undo a settlement made in May between Trump and the IRS. In that deal, Trump agreed to drop a $10 billion lawsuit against the agency. In exchange, Trump, his family, and his businesses were protected from IRS audits. No money was exchanged. Trump received an apology and protection.
The Deal a Judge Called Fraud on the Court
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams put that arrangement in serious jeopardy in July. She issued a sanctions order against Trump’s legal team for fraud on the court and imposed a gag order barring anyone from referring to the settlement in any official proceeding.
This was a rare and serious decision by the judge. She found that the lawyers had not just made mistakes or pushed too far, but had actually corrupted the legal process. The gag order made things worse for Trump’s team by making the settlement almost impossible to use in future legal cases.
The brief filed at the Eleventh Circuit was signed by Acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter. It argues that Trump’s original lawsuit over the leak of his tax returns by a government contractor was legitimate, claiming the plaintiffs suffered real harm that cannot be seriously questioned.
McCotter also said the terms of the deal show it was real, not political. He noted that the complaint asked for $10 billion, but the settlement gave no money, just an apology. He also pointed out that it took 109 days to reach the agreement, arguing that collusive settlements are easy to spot.
Republicans Extracted Written Promises
The biggest issue for Blanche is not what Democrats said about him, but what Senate Republicans demanded before allowing his nomination to proceed.
Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina refused to advance Blanche out of the Judiciary Committee without written guarantees on this exact settlement. They wanted confirmation that the tax audit immunity applied only to the plaintiffs named in the lawsuit and not more broadly. They also wanted the proposed $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” killed outright, according to NPR.
Blanche provided the written promises before the vote. Cornyn and Tillis then said they were glad the Justice Department had officially ended the fund. Blanche also agreed to limit the audit deal.
The Senate confirmed Blanche by a 50 to 49 vote on August 8, during an overnight session. If just one senator had changed their vote, the nomination would have failed. Cornyn and Tillis were satisfied with the written promises, and Blanche was sworn in at the White House on Monday.
The Justice Department filed the brief supporting Trump’s private lawyers the following day.
Democrats Called the Play in Advance
During the confirmation process, Senate Democrats argued that Blanche would turn the Justice Department into Trump’s personal legal team. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey warned that Blanche would act as Trump’s weapon against opponents and his protection from scrutiny.
Sen. Adam Schiff of California made a similar point before the committee vote, saying Blanche would always act in Trump’s interest rather than for the American people, according to NBC News.
At the time, those warnings were brushed off as partisan criticism from senators who opposed the nomination. Blanche did not wait a month or even a week to show the Justice Department’s priorities. He acted within 24 hours.
What the Department Is Actually Arguing
If you ignore the legal jargon, the situation is clear. The Justice Department, speaking for the United States, is asking a federal appeals court to remove sanctions against the president’s private lawyers and to lift limits on a settlement that protects the president’s personal finances from federal audit.
The taxpayers who pay for this legal brief are the same people the IRS audits without exceptions, negotiations, or the chance to trade a lawsuit for lasting immunity. The agency Trump sued for $10 billion is the same one that audits regular people over a few thousand dollars in disputed deductions.
Now, there is the question of how Cornyn and Tillis will respond. They based their votes on written promises about the settlement’s limits, but the Justice Department’s first major move under the new attorney general was to defend that settlement in court. Either the written promises were real and this filing breaks them, or the promises were just a way for the senators to vote yes without taking responsibility.
Judge Williams found that Trump’s lawyers committed fraud on the court to obtain this deal. The Justice Department’s answer is that the deal looks fine because it took 109 days and produced no cash. That argument may or may not persuade the Eleventh Circuit. What it has already established is who the department works for.
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