Just When Blanche Thought It Was Safe to Go Back In the Trump v. IRS Water...

by Anne P. Mitchell, Esq. - attorney, law professor emeritus, and author of Federal law

Just when Blanche may have thought - what with having been confirmed and all - that he'd put that pesky matter of the Trump v. IRS case to rest; that the issue of him and Trump colluding and trying to pull a fast one on the Court was behind him... dun duh....dun duh... dun duh dun duh .... dun duh dun duh dun duh dun duh ... dududududududu ...

BLAM! A judge's order in the original case, followed by a new (amended) complaint in a different case that updates the case to take into account Blanche's impotent effort to get out from under the whole thing.

(Both documents are included for Notes from the Front members)

Let's deal with the order in the original Trump v. Tru..er... Trump v. Blanc... er... Trump v. "IRS" case, both because it's short, and because it's delicious.

As you know by now, the Court issued a spanking to Trump and all of the attorneys involved for their collusive shenanigans; that spanking primarily took the form of a) disciplinary referrals for the attorneys ("You get a referral, and you get a referral, and *everybody* gets a referral"), and b) monetary sanctions, which were of nominal monetary value but which made clear that Trump was the loser in this case.

So of course Trump is appealing. And he filed a request for a stay of the Court's sanctions while he appeals. AND he filed a request for an *expedited* stay.

And the Court said "No effin' way." No expedited stay for you!

And the *second* thing, the Amended Complaint in a completely different case... ah, it is a thing of beauty!

This case was originally filed in May, by Andrew Floyd, Jonathan Caravello, and a few organizational plaintiffs. It is a lawsuit against the weaponization fund. You probably wouldn't have thought that Blanche's "get into DOJ free" card - i.e. his disclaiming of the fund and his attempt to keep-but-scale-back the IRS immunity - would appease anyone but Trump, but Blanche may have thought that it would. Or, at least, I'm certain that he sure was hoping.

The thing is, Blanche absolutely cannot serve two masters here, one being Trump, and the other being, you know, everything that is decent. The people and the judiciary are part of the latter.

Instead, the plaintiffs in the Floyd case have *amended* their complaint to now *include* his Massie and Cornyn Appeasement Statement and here's what they have to say about *that*:

"After this Court preliminarily enjoined the Fund, Acting AG Blanche issued an order on August 2 purporting to rescind his May 18 Funding Order by stating that the Fund is not currently operative. This present-tense wordsmithing assuredly does not affirm, under penalty of perjury, that the Anti-Weaponization Fund will not proceed in any manner, or under any name, either now or in the future. Nor does it purport to prevent the parties to the agreement in 'Trump', including President Trump, from enforcing that agreement."

Yowch!

But wait, there's more!

"DOJ’s concurrent statement about the Immunity Order purports to narrow the scope of that Order but does not rescind it. This unsigned piece of paper, which carries no more weight than a press release, confirms that the IRS will terminate tax audits and liability at the request of the President and conscript Plaintiff NTEU members into violating their oath and the Internal Revenue Code to grant the President with an unconstitutional emolument."

Yeehah!

And some other Y-words.

Now, of course those of you who have been following me for a while will remember my saying much the same thing about Blanche's August 2 statement, including that it carries no more weight than tissue paper, and that it no more makes the claimed immunity real than would Blanche claiming the moon was made of cheese make it so. (Cue Picard.)

Floyd, by the way, was a career prosecutor with the DOJ who had actually been *promoted* under Trump I. Then days after Jan6 he was asked to lead an effort to investigate and prosecute the violent Jan6 rioters; then he was fired under Trump II. Thus goes the flying fickle finger of fate (although I have another finger in mind for some of the parties).

And Caravello is that California professor who was arrested for protesting an ICE raid in Camarillo, California. He was held for several days in jail. He was, of course, acquitted, but not before the damage was done.

Under the "Background" section of the Complaint, heading I says:

"President Trump’s $10 Billion Lawsuit Against Agencies He Controls"

I think that sums it up pretty nicely, don't you?

As does:

IV. DOJ’s August 2 Actions Two Days Before Acting AG Blanche’s Committee Vote

And, of that statement issued on August 2:

"This non-binding statement does not even purport to rescind the Immunity Order."

I'm pretty sure they meant "pretend", but "purport" is a bit more appropriate in a legal pleading. 😂

This is another document that if you read it all the way through, and I really hope that you do, you will *definitely* come away with a very clear understanding of *exactly* where all of the moving parts in the Trump / IRS / Slush Fund / IRS Immunity / Blanche's Tissue Paper / Blanche's Confirmation all fit together.

Notes from the Front members: Both the order denying Trump's request for an expedited stay of sanctions, and the wonderful Amended Complaint, are in your inbox now. (Note: if you have installed the Substack app on your phone you need to be sure to go to your notifications settings *in the app*, and set notifications to "email" because it defaults your account to "not email").

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P.S. If you actually read all the way to the bottom please leave a sentence in a comment that includes the word "jaws". It will show me that my efforts aren't in vain and that people actually *do* read these things, and it will drive those who just skim crazy wondering just why everyone is talking about jaws (or Jaws)! ;~)