Despite Judge's Smackdown, Trump Plans To Keep Deal Killing Tax Audits

Source: Huff Post

Jul 15, 2026, 06:00 AM EDT | Updated 2 hours ago


WASHINGTON – Despite a federal judge saying this week that Donald Trump acted in “bad faith” settling a lawsuit with his own administration, and that the terms of the purported settlement were illegal and unconstitutional, the president intends to keep the sweetheart deal he gave himself: an end to any ongoing tax enforcement against him or his family.

In an unusual order on Monday, months after Trump withdrew his lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. Williams referred the president’s lawyers for formal sanctions and forbade the president from describing the deal he reached with his own government as an actual settlement of the case in any future official proceedings.

Williams said Trump “improperly employed this lawsuit to justify a particular award in this matter – access to taxpayer funds and exemption from audits and other investigations.” But Williams said in a footnote that the legality of the May 19 Justice Department order that “FOREVER BARRED” the government from continuing any already-started tax enforcement against Trump “is not before this Court.”

A spokesperson for the Justice Department said in an email that means the order is “still in effect.”

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