Yeah, Kinda What I Was Hoping For

 But: holy fucking shit, I did NOT see this coming.

In what the Times called a "striking turnabout," U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams revived the case just days after she had closed it. The Obama appointee said she wants to scrutinize the circumstances surrounding Trump's effort to settle the suit in a way that benefited him, his family, and his political allies — including the controversial $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization fund" that critics have blasted as a slush fund.

Williams ordered Trump's lawyers to respond by June 12 to two damning questions: whether "the court was the victim of a fraud," and whether the president colluded with his own government to settle the case "to avoid judicial scrutiny."

The ruling came in response to a bipartisan filing from 35 former federal judges earlier this week. The retired judges argued Trump improperly used the IRS suit to dole out taxpayer money "without constitutional or congressional authority" and to obtain "unlawful private benefits" for his family, including permanent immunity from tax audits.

If Williams proceeds, top Justice Department officials could face hard questions — including acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who signed the audit shield, and Stanley Woodward Jr., the No. 3 DOJ official who signed the fund agreement.

Now, the interesting part of this is, there isn’t anyone on the other side to argue against this “settlement.” This is the court’s own motion. Essentially, this is a “show cause” order, where the court tells the party about to be held in contempt (usually criminal), to “show cause” why the court shouldn’t act. This time the court is telling anybody involved in this who isn’t the POTUS to show cause why they shouldn’t be deep in the shit. 💩 

Because right now, they are. And they aren’t likely to get out. 

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