NPR⁠84%

Judge dismisses Trump's IRS lawsuit, paving the way for a settlement ⁠26%

By Carrie Johnson⁠0%

5/18/2026, 2:58:49 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 17 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Authority, Availability Heuristic, and Begging the Question, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 35.9% saturation with 190 hits. Analysis detected 944 faulty-reasoning hits from 529 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 37.6% and a BS Rank of ⁠26% (16,382 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 74.80% of the article peer group.

A federal judge on Monday dismissed a $10 billion lawsuit President Trump filed against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns years ago, following Trump's request. 
Ethics watchdogs and Democrats in Congress had sought to intervene in what is the first known instance of a president suing the government he leads. 
Hours after the request to dismiss the case, the Department of Justice announced an "anti-weaponization fund" as part of the settlement with Trump. 
In a statement, the department said the $1.7 billion fund would allow the DOJ to settle and pay cases. 
U.S. 
District Judge Kathleen Williams, who presided over the case, says court rules allow a plaintiff to walk away from the suit. 
But she had earlier raised her own doubts about the merits of the suit, citing Trump's own rhetoric that in some ways, he was negotiating with himself as both plaintiff and president. 
She also pointedly questioned the DOJ for not sharing the settlement details publicly. 
"Defendants—federal agencies represented by the Department of Justice, which has an independent obligation to uphold the 'public's strong interest in knowing about the conduct of its Government and expenditure of its resources' and the 'fair administration of justice,' — neither submitted any settlement documents nor filed any documents ensuring that settlement was appropriate where there was an outstanding question as to whether an actual case or controversy existed," she wrote in her dismissal. 
Trump and the Trump Organization sued the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department in January, demanding $10 billion over the leak of his tax returns years ago. 
Legal experts described the case as weak, since the leak has been attributed to a federal contractor, not a full-time employee of the U.S. government. 
That man is currently serving prison time. 
They also questioned whether the statute of limitations might have expired; the leaks of tax information happened between 2018 and 2020. 
There's a process in place at the Justice Department for people who say they've been harmed by the federal government. 
In the normal course of business, those claims get evaluated by career lawyers. 
They rarely involve high-profile criminal investigations like Trump's. 
"Some of them are run-of-the-mill, right?" 
Rupa Bhattacharyya, a former Justice Department lawyer who evaluated these kinds of allegations, said ahead of the suit being settled. 
"Postal vehicles get into traffic accidents, Veterans Affairs doctors have malpractice claims brought against them, people slip and fall in federal buildings." 
Even in the most serious cases, like ones that involved injuries to people cleaning up after the terrorist attack on Sept. 
11, 2001, Bhattacharyya said the payouts almost never amounted to more than $10 million. 
Edward Whelan, a prominent conservative lawyer, had told NPR it would make sense to pause the litigation until Trump leaves the White House. 
"There is a glaring conflict of interest with Trump being on both sides of the claim," said Whelan, a former lawyer at the Justice Department who once clerked for the late Justice Antonin Scalia. 
"It is outrageous that he and those answering to him would be deciding how the government responds to these extravagant claims." 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 5.5%Goats and Soda (NPR): 3.4%Confirmation Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 0.3%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.6%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 14.9%Carrie Johnson: 3.4%Goats and Soda (NPR): 3.8%Availability Heuristic14.9%This article: 6.6%Carrie Johnson: 1.3%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.2%Representativeness Heuristic6.6%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 1.6%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.8%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 1.8%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.4%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 5.7%Carrie Johnson: 14.9%Goats and Soda (NPR): 11.1%Framing Effect5.7%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 0.4%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.2%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 3.8%Carrie Johnson: 0.9%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.1%Status Quo Bias3.8%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.2%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 1.5%Goats and Soda (NPR): 3.4%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 1.7%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.3%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 35.9%Carrie Johnson: 14.6%Goats and Soda (NPR): 11.3%Negativity Bias35.9%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 4.2%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.3%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 0.9%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.1%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 0.5%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.3%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 0.8%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.3%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 2.1%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.2%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 3.3%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.8%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.3%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 0.2%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 9.6%Carrie Johnson: 1.2%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.7%Recency Bias9.6%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 0.8%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.5%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 0.2%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 0.6%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.2%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 1.4%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.3%Straw Man0.0%This article: 23.3%Carrie Johnson: 7.1%Goats and Soda (NPR): 6.1%Appeal to Authority23.3%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 0.7%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.5%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 2.3%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.3%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 0.6%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 8.9%Carrie Johnson: 5.3%Goats and Soda (NPR): 4.4%Hasty Generalization8.9%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 0.2%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.3%Red Herring0.0%This article: 1.1%Carrie Johnson: 0.1%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.7%Bandwagon1.1%This article: 11.7%Carrie Johnson: 8.9%Goats and Soda (NPR): 6.6%Appeal to Emotion11.7%This article: 13.8%Carrie Johnson: 2.3%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.9%Begging the Question13.8%This article: 4.3%Carrie Johnson: 2.6%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.8%Post Hoc (False Cause)4.3%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 0.1%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.2%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 0.2%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.4%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 0.3%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.2%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 0.4%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.2%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 8.1%Carrie Johnson: 2.1%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.8%Anecdotal8.1%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 6.0%Carrie Johnson: 1.5%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.5%Ambiguity (Equivocation)6.0%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 0.1%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 0.2%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.2%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 0.7%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.5%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 13.8%Carrie Johnson: 2.2%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.3%Unattributed Quote13.8%This article: 6.4%Carrie Johnson: 3.3%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.9%Quote-first Misdirection6.4%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 2.5%Goats and Soda (NPR): 3.1%Biased Writer Voice0.0%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 0.4%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.0%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 1.8%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.1%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 4.3%Carrie Johnson: 0.7%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.3%Politically Right Leaning Bias4.3%This article: 0.0%Carrie Johnson: 0.4%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.3%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

529 words analyzed.

Speakers

3speakers56%attributed speech235writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 11 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 28 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 25 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 23 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 19 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 1 words • 0.0% coverageKathleen Williams • 21 words • 0.0% coverageKathleen Williams • 32 words • 0.0% coverageKathleen Williams • 13 words • 0.0% coverageKathleen Williams • 73 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 28 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 25 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 7 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 21 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 20 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 13 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 8 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 6 words • 0.0% coverageRupa Bhattacharyya • 20 words • 0.0% coverageRupa Bhattacharyya • 22 words • 0.0% coverageRupa Bhattacharyya • 21 words • 0.0% coverageRupa Bhattacharyya • 14 words • 0.0% coverageEdward Whelan • 23 words • 100.0% coverageEdward Whelan • 34 words • 100.0% coverageEdward Whelan • 21 words • 0.0% coverage
Selected voice

Edward Whelan

100%flagged-word coverage
78 attributed words27% of attributed speech91% writer coverage
0%22.5%45.0%Quote-first Misdirection+43.6 ptsWriter: 0.0%Edward Whelan: 43.6%43.6%Politically Right Leaning +29.5 ptsWriter: 0.0%Edward Whelan: 29.5%29.5%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.