A federal judge just put President Donald Trump in the "danger zone" after launching an inquiry into the lawsuit that produced the president's nearly $1.8 billion so-called "anti-weaponization" fund last week, a former federal prosecutor warned on Sunday.
Glenn Kirschner, the former deputy U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., said during a new episode of "The Legal Breakdown," a podcast he co-hosts with progressive YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen, that Judge Kathleen Williams in the Southern District of Florida deciding to reopen the lawsuit Trump filed against the IRS to see if it constitutes fraud represents a potentially "perilous twist" for the case.
Last week, Williams launched an inquiry into the settlement after a coalition of 35 former federal judges said the agreement might constitute "serious misconduct" by the Trump Department of Justice. Kirschner said Williams's four-page order raised three potent questions: whether the settlement is the product of collusion, whether it was premised on deception, and whether the case should be reopened.
Trump's lawyers have until June 19 to respond to Williams's questions, according to her order.
Kirschner said the inquiry represented a "hell of a twist, a potentially perilous twist" for Trump and his lawyers at the DOJ.
"This could be a real danger zone for Trump," Kirschner said.
Trump's DOJ created the so-called "anti-weaponization" fund last week and announced it intends to pay claims by people who were wrongfully prosecuted by the federal government. The fund has been criticized by Republicans and Democrats alike, with Trump's former vice president calling it "deeply offensive."
Several of Trump's allies, including the leader of the Proud Boys and former campaign aides who were investigated as part of the 2016 probe into Trump's connections with the Russian government, have said they will seek compensation.