A bipartisan group of 35 federal judges asked a federal court in Florida to reopen the legal case between President Donald Trump and the Internal Revenue Service and investigate whether the two parties' out-of-court settlement was an act of fraud against the court.
"The Court was deceived," the 24-page motion reads, adding that the settlement "commandeers the contrived sum of $1.776 billion from the United States Treasury, to be handed out to recipients chosen by a commission effectively controlled by the President."
Trump effectively sued the government that he leads when he filed suit against the IRS and Treasury Department in January seeking $10 billion in damages over the agency's past leak of his tax returns.
Voluntarily withdrawing the lawsuit meant the judge assigned to the case, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, did not rule on the case's merits ‒ nor did the judge weigh in on the settlement that plaintiffs reached with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump's former personal attorney.