Trump Appeals Judge’s Ruling That His IRS Lawsuit Was Collusive Self-Dealing

The president filed a joint notice of appeal over the lawsuit involving leaked tax returns after it was settled and voluntarily dismissed in May.

The U.S. Department of Justice in Washington on Jan. 6, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

President Donald Trump on July 31 formally appealed a federal judge’s ruling that found his lawsuit against the IRS over a leak of his tax returns was collusive self-dealing filed for an “improper purpose.”

Trump voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit in May when he settled the case.

The Trump administration agreed to create a nearly $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund designed to compensate victims of politicized law enforcement. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) later abandoned the fund amid bipartisan criticism and challenges in court.

The joint notice of appeal was filed on behalf of Trump, two of his sons, and the family business with the Miami office of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

The appeal will go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. The notice does not spell out why the litigants are appealing.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams ruled on July 13 in Trump v. IRS that the lawsuit had never presented a genuine case or controversy because Trump controls both sides of the case.

Since Trump exercises authority over the IRS and the DOJ as president in a lawsuit he filed in his personal capacity, the interests of the litigants were not truly opposed to each other as is required in civil lawsuits, she held.

The lawsuit “was never about a party seeking judicial resolution of a legal issue or a factual dispute,” Williams said.

A spokesman for Trump’s legal team said the IRS “wrongly allowed a rogue, politically motivated employee to leak private and confidential information about President Trump, his family, and the Trump Organization to the New York Times, ProPublica and other left-wing news outlets, which was then illegally released to millions of people.”

“President Trump continues to hold those who wrong America and Americans accountable,” he told The Epoch Times.

This is a developing story that will be updated.