Trump ordered to address fraud claims in IRS case that led to ‘slush fund’ for allies

A federal judge ordered US President Donald Trump to respond to “grievous allegations” that his deal with the government to create a US$1.8 billion fund to resolve his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service was the result of a “fraud” on the court.

In an order on Friday, US District Judge Kathleen Williams gave the president’s personal lawyers until June 12 to respond to a request by a group of former federal judges that she reopen the proceedings to investigate conduct by the president and the Justice Department.

Williams had closed the case after Trump’s lawyers notified her they were dropping his claims seeking to hold the IRS liable for a past leak of his tax information.

At the same time, the Justice Department announced that in exchange for Trump ending the case, it would create a US$1.776 billion fund to benefit what officials described as victims of “weaponisation” by the government.

Opponents have slammed the arrangement as a “slush fund” for Trump’s allies and supporters. The deal also includes a bar on investigations into Trump’s past tax returns.

Earlier on Friday, a federal judge in Virginia temporarily barred the Trump administration from operating the “anti-weaponisation fund“ while she weighed a longer-term block. The case in Virginia is one of at least four lawsuits filed objecting to the plan since it was announced earlier this month.