Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche reacts as U.S. President Donald Trump (not pictured) receives the report from his Religious Liberty Commission in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 26, 2026. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
A pair of legal experts were astounded on Monday while discussing a trap the Trump Department of Justice may have laid for itself in a recent case.
One of the arguments Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche made when the DOJ created the $1.776 billion settlement between the Trump administration and the IRS was that Trump had been irreparably harmed by a government contractor or employee, which is why they sought such a large payout. However, that argument could get the Trump DOJ into trouble in other cases where privacy matters are concerned, according to Lisa Graves, co-host of the "Court Accountability Action" podcast and Christopher Swartz, the senior ethics counsel for the Democracy Defenders Fund.
The two legal experts reacted to the trap in a new episode on Monday.
"This is a clear case of failure of those baseline duties of any lawyer, whether they're a first-year lawyer or a lawyer who's been out practicing for 20 or 30 years," Graves said about the settlement agreement. "The misconduct, the failure to defend the interests of the United States, the IRS, and the other agencies, is jaw-dropping."
The $ 1.776 billion settlement was initially established to pay claims from people who were wrongfully prosecuted by the federal government. However, the idea was quashed after it received strong bipartisan pushback.
Even so, the Trump administration has refused every attempt to make it put in writing that the fund will never be established.
Swartz, whose organization filed an ethics complaint against Blanche over the IRS settlement, argued that Blanche's argument "prejudices the government's position" in other cases that involve privacy matters.
The ethics complaint was filed at a time when Blanche was seeking confirmation for the full Attorney General role. Some Republicans have already said they won't support Blanche's nomination, which sets the stage for a contentious confirmation battle.