WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over his leaked tax returns was filed for an “improper purpose,” a judge said Monday in a scathing decision that referred one of his lawyers for potential disciplinary action and characterized the $10 billion complaint as an exercise in self-dealing.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams accused Trump and his lawyers of having manipulated the court system when he sued a federal agency under his control, bypassing a requirement that parties in a lawsuit must have adverse interests and laying the groundwork for a settlement that granted him immunity from tax audits and created a fund to compensate allies of the president who say they were unjustly persecuted.
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President Donald Trump speaks on West Executive Drive at the White House during a showcase for the upcoming Freedom 250 Grand Prix auto race, Monday, July 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in flight on Air Force One after landing at U.S. Air Force Base at RAF Mildenhall, in Suffolk Eastern England, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump, center, stands at the North Portico of the White House, Saturday, July 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in flight on Air Force One after landing at U.S. Air Force Base at RAF Mildenhall, in Suffolk, Eastern England, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The judge stopped short of explicitly voiding the deal shielding Trump from tax scrutiny but said the government cannot claim that the agreement was the result of a legitimate legal process.
“Whether Executive Branch actors can privately agree to give themselves and their former clients blanket immunities and billions of dollars in tax monies for legally undefined grievances was never an issue advanced to this Court,” said Williams, an appointee of President Barack Obama. “The question is whether the Parties could do so by claiming to be adverse and engaging the legitimacy of a court proceeding. The answer is a resounding ‘no.’”
Though the practical impacts of the ruling may be limited since the lawsuit was withdrawn months ago and the administration had already abandoned the $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” that came out of it, the order nonetheless amounts to a scathing rebuke and tees up a politically uncomfortable line of questioning for Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche as faces the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
“The nature of the suit itself and the conduct of the Parties and counsel from its filing make plain that this was an attempt to use the Court to provide some legitimacy to an agreement to confer immunity to people and entities affiliated with the President and to earmark billions of dollars from American taxpayers to redress grievances not defined in the law," Williams wrote in her ruling.
She added: “The President may be the functional “dominus litus” of the Executive Branch, but as a party to a civil suit, he, as well as all the parties and lawyers before a court, are bound by the rules. Ensuring that our courts are used only for the express purpose created by the Constitution is the obligation of every judge and an obligation that this Court must discharge in light of the matter before it.”
The suit against the IRS and Treasury Department in January accused the federal agencies of a failure to prevent a leak of the president’s tax information to news outlets between 2018 and 2020.
In May, however, the administration announced that it was settling the case and creating a fund to compensate people who believe they've been mistreated by the criminal justice system. The fund was quickly shelved amid bipartisan backlash, though the Trump administration has said it intends to proceed with a separate element of the deal affording Trump and family members protection from audits.
From the start, the judge had appeared skeptical of the complaint and assigned a group of attorneys to determine whether there was a conflict in the case since, as sitting president, Trump was suing “entities whose decisions are subject to his direction.”
Even after the settlement was revealed, she directed Trump attorneys to lay out their positions on whether the parties in the case were truly adverse to each other, whether the settlement was premised on fraud and whether the case should be reopened.
She made clear in her ruling that she was not satisfied by the lawyers' answers.
“After a review of the record, and the Parties’ statements, the Court declines to adopt or accept the credulous exercise of divorcing President Trump’s current job title from an understanding of what happened here,” she wrote.
The judge referred Trump attorney Alejandro Brito, who filed the case, for possible disciplinary action before the state bar in Florida and said another lawyer, Daniel Epstein, will not be granted permission to file within the Southern District of Florida for up to a year.
A spokesman for the Trump legal team responded to a request seeking comment from Brito with a statement that blamed the IRS for allowing his tax returns to be leaked.
The judge also ordered that her ruling be sent to the state bars in New York and the District of Columbia, where ethics complaints have been filed against Blanche and Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward.
Williams pointed to Blanche’s congressional testimony in early June in which he revealed that the “anti-weaponization” fund was no longer moving forward. Though nothing had been filed in court, Blanche appeared confident in his testimony that he “could speak for, and bind, both sides of this matter,” Williams said.
“Acting Attorney General Blanche’s apparent capacity to speak for both Plaintiffs and Defendants, sign a ‘settlement’ document on behalf of all Parties to this action, and then repudiate part of that agreement, demonstrates that there was only one party whose interests were being represented throughout this case,” the judge wrote.
The judge also raised ethical concerns about Blanche and Woodward’s involvement in the settlement given Blanche’s past representation of Trump as well as Woodward’s previous defense of Jan. 6 defendants and a co-defendant in Trump’s classified documents case.
“Instead of either recusing because of their previous representations or vigorously defending this lawsuit as required to do so by DOJ policies and procedures, these lawyers agreed to a ‘settlement’ involving a staggering amount of money potentially benefitting former clients,” she said.
Blanche denied in a CNN interview last spring that he had come up with the settlement terms, saying, “The president has outside counsel, and their counsel, the Department of Justice, not me."
Associated Press writers Fatima Hussein and Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump speaks on West Executive Drive at the White House during a showcase for the upcoming Freedom 250 Grand Prix auto race, Monday, July 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in flight on Air Force One after landing at U.S. Air Force Base at RAF Mildenhall, in Suffolk Eastern England, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump, center, stands at the North Portico of the White House, Saturday, July 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in flight on Air Force One after landing at U.S. Air Force Base at RAF Mildenhall, in Suffolk, Eastern England, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
BIDDEFORD, Maine (AP) — A federal immigration agent fatally shot a motorist in Maine on Monday, the second time in a week that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have used deadly force.
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the agent opened fire after the man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon against agents who were pursuing him for deportation in Biddeford, a coastal city of about 23,000 people roughly 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of Portland.
“He was in a vehicle — pulled out in the vehicle, and the term the secretary used was ‘weaponized’ the vehicle and was shot by an ICE agent,” King said.
Mary Hayes, who lives close to where the shooting happened, said the man who was killed lived nearby with his wife and daughter.
“I watched a wife fall to her knees looking at her husband’s dead body on the ground," Hayes told The Associated Press as she held a piece of cardboard with “No ICE Stop ICE” written on it. "I watched a little girl crying with a little pink backpack on because she’s never going to see her father again.”
Cory Poulin, whose family runs a laundromat near the shooting, told the AP that security cameras at the business captured footage of the man’s car rolling into the intersection after shots were fired. Other images from the scene showed the car going in circles and bullet holes in its windshield.
“Two ICE members ran to the intersection and another ICE member in a Ford SUV went into the intersection to stop the car from rolling,” he said. “I don’t know for a fact, but I don’t believe he was alive when the car started rolling.”
He said Maine State Police asked that he not release the footage publicly.
The agents didn’t have body-worn cameras, King said. The FBI is leading the investigation. Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, said the state police are working with the state attorney general’s office, chief medical examiner’s office and federal officials to determine what happened.
“The question is, what did he do with his vehicle," King said. “Were officers threatened? Were the threats rising to the level that justified deadly force?
"That’s what this investigation is all about and I certainly intend to stay after it to do everything I can to be sure the investigation is as transparent and thorough as possible.”
ICE and the Maine Department of Public Safety didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The man who was killed was a 26-year-old Colombian native who was authorized to work in the U.S. and had a Social Security number, according to a joint statement from advocacy groups Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente!
After the shooting, the man's family contacted the Immigrants’ Rights Coalition through a hotline, according to Mufalo Chitam, the organization’s executive director.
“It’s a young family and he was leaving to go to work,” Chitam told the AP.
The family is not ready to identify the man or speak publicly about the shooting, Chitam added.
“We are grieving, we are furious, and we will not allow his death to be treated as routine or inevitable,” Chitam said. “How much more harm must our communities endure before those with the power to act acknowledge that this has gone too far?”
The Colombian Embassy told the AP in an emailed statement that it is in contact with U.S. authorities and “working to formally confirm the individual’s identity and nationality.”
Dozens of anti-ICE demonstrators gathered in Biddeford within hours of the shooting.
Amy Goodman, who is from nearby Wells, arrived with a sign that said “Stop Killing Us” and directed it toward police working at the scene.
“Sadly, it’s something we’re seeing a whole lot more often lately, and I’m mad about it,” said Goodman, who was wearing a shirt that said “ICE is best when crushed.”
“It’s heartbreaking and I wanted to show up,” Goodman’s friend, Molly Zucker of Cape Neddick, said as she held a sign reading, “No human being is illegal.”
Police blocked access to the shooting scene, which is in a neighborhood of mostly multifamily homes, churches and businesses near downtown. Several protesters stood nearby, with some holding signs condemning ICE's presence in the community and state.
The fatal shooting in Maine was at least the ninth death from an encounter with federal immigration officials since the start of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown and the second in a week, following the killing of a Houston man.
The reported shooting comes amid a newly intensified push by the Trump administration to carry out its mass deportations agenda. During the five-day period at the end of June, ICE arrested more than 10,000 people. The figures indicate that while the administration is no longer cracking down on individual cities, the arrests continue and are surging.
“More than anything else, I want to know, ‘Why are you in Maine?’" Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, said in a video posted on social media.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat running for Senate, wrote on X: “It’s time to get ICE off our streets.”
ICE had a significant presence in Maine earlier this year, which resulted in several large demonstrations against the agency.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, named the operation “Catch of the Day,” an apparent play on Maine’s seafood industry, just as it has done for other enforcement surges, like “Patriot” in Massachusetts, “Metro Surge” in Minnesota and “Midway Blitz” in Chicago.
Immigration officials said in late January that they had ceased “enhanced operations” in Maine after hundreds of arrests.
A Homeland Security spokesperson said at the time that some Maine arrests were of people “convicted of horrific crimes including aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and endangering the welfare of a child.” But court records painted a slightly different story: While some had felony convictions, others were detainees with unresolved immigration proceedings or who were arrested but never convicted of a crime.
ICE arrested 546 people in Maine between the start of President Donald Trump’s second term and March 11, 2026, the most recent data available, according to ICE arrest data provided to the UC Berkeley Deportation Data Project and analyzed by the AP. About 45% of those arrested had criminal backgrounds. During the equivalent 416-day period before Trump took office, roughly 69% of those arrested had criminal backgrounds, the data show.
The Trump administration's immigration crackdowns received widespread condemnation last winter after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota. Last week, an ICE officer fatally shot 52-year-old Salgado Araujo, of Houston, after he was pursued by federal agents driving unmarked vehicles while he was taking his construction crew to their latest job site.
This story was updated to correct the spelling of Cory Poulin’s first name.
Willingham reported from Boston and Brook reported from New Orleans. Associated Press reporters Michael R. Sisak in New York and Aaron Kessler in Washington contributed to this report.
Eisha Khan speaks at a rally of protesters near the scene of a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
A vehicle with a damaged window is transported away from the scene of a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Protesters gather near the scene of a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
A vehicle is transported on a flatbed near the scene of a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Biddeford City Councilor Abigail Woods hugs an unidentified constituent during an impromptu protest near the scene of a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
An FBI official places an evidence card where a man was reportedly killed in a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald via AP)
The scene on Pool Street where a man was reportedly killed in a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald via AP)
People stand near the scene as police block a road after a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in Biddeford, Maine, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Patrick Whittle)
Police block a road after a shooting in Biddeford, Maine, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Patrick Whittle)
This image taken from video provided by WMTW shows police on the scene after a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (WMTW via AP)
This image taken from video provided by WMTW shows police and FBI agents on the scene after a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (WMTW via AP)
FILE - A federal agent wears an Immigration and Customs Enforcement badge in New York, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)
