About this episode

A federal judge ruled that Trump misused a lawsuit against the IRS for personal gain, leading to ethical concerns for his legal team.

A federal judge on July 13 found that President Donald Trump improperly used a $10 billion lawsuit he ​filed against the IRS to extract personal benefits from the government he oversees, preventing the terms of a settlement agreement from taking legal effect. Miami-based ‌U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams excoriated Trump's personal lawyers and attorneys in his administration, concluding their interests were not opposed to each other as is legally required for civil lawsuits. Williams referred a Trump lawyer in the case and senior Justice Department officials who signed off on the settlement to state bar authorities to determine whether their actions violated legal ethics rules. Let’s go through the details of why she took these steps.

Topics covered

• legal ruling
• Trump lawsuit
• IRS
• government ethics
• civil lawsuits

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: IRS, Justice Department

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