New today: President Donald Trump is appealing a judge’s ruling that bars him from attempting to use a sweeping audit-immunity settlement that resolved his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. From Erik Larson: buff.ly/8LEy0yQ

DEEP DIVE: The Trump administration's court losses are putting taxpayers on the hook for potentially millions in legal fees. (plus, a $250K fee fight in the Kennedy Center's case against a musician who backed out after the board added Trump's name) Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Then there are Trump-related one-offs. Lawyers for a musician who canceled a concert at the Kennedy Center after the board voted to put the president's name on it are seeking $250,000+ in legal fees after a judge dismissed the center's lawsuit against him (the center argues this is unreasonable)

What's at stake? There is the most typical universe of attorney fee requests to US agencies under a 1980 law meant to ensure people/small businesses/nonprofits aren't priced out of suing the govt. There are mounting six-figure requests in cases the Trump admin lost. DOJ is opposing some of these.

The DC Circuit sided against Dems in one of the suits against Trump's mail voting EO, finding claims were premature because agencies hadn't done anything concrete yet. But the panel warned a block could come later if officials tried to implement "massive changes" for the midterms buff.ly/fJ4CZkA

NEW: A US appeals court rejected DOJ's request to let federal officials fully move ahead with Trump’s overhaul of mail voting ahead of the November midterms, leaving in place a Boston judge’s order blocking key parts of the president’s exec. order in 23 states + DC www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

ROUND 3: The Trump administration is facing a fresh legal challenge to the president’s latest round of global tariffs that took effect Friday. The small businesses that sued allege this is an unlawful use of US trade law to try to reimpose the Trump tariffs that SCOTUS struck down buff.ly/DG4paK8

New: In a 2-1 decision overnight, the DC Circuit cleared the way for DOJ to give the Heritage Foundation former President Joe Biden's interview recordings with his ghostwriter from years ago, although the court delayed its order taking effect until 8/3 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Round 2: The Fed firing fight has been formally sent back to the district court for the next phase of proceedings after Trump and DOJ failed to convince SCOTUS to let him immediately oust Governor Lisa Cook (refresher: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...). TBD on what the next round will look like

New: The US judge who slammed DOJ's deal with Trump to end his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS turned a critical eye specifically on Acting AG Todd Blanche's conduct -- on the eve of his Senate confirmation hearing. A deep dive into what she found: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

"...brought to manipulate the judicial process" On today's ruling slamming Trump, his lawyers and DOJ for the settlement to end his IRS lawsuit. At a minimum, it appears to undermine part of the deal that gives Trump immunity from audits into past tax filings, among other sanctions buff.ly/htbROQC

New: Peter Navarro, a senior trade adviser to President Trump, is taking the unusual step of continuing to challenge his Biden-era contempt of Congress conviction even though DOJ walked away from the case nearly a year ago. Tldr: He doesn't want the Bannon result www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

NEW: DOJ settled a second lawsuit with Trump ally Michael Flynn, resolving his claim that the Army wrongly withheld $38K in retirement pay after concluding he accepted money from a Russia-controlled entity for a 2015 speech without approval; source says payout is a sum below $75K buff.ly/0Jh9HOf

Trump firing fights press on: Following this week's SCOTUS ruling expanding presidential firing power, two agency heads removed by Trump indicate they still see paths forward for legal challenges -- both cases feature race discrimination claims, for one thing: buff.ly/2vXn48c Prev: buff.ly/tw6npO9

*taps the mic* there is another way

Today in "case captions that spike your blood pressure": Brennan v. Blanche Former CIA Director John Brennan sued the Trump administration, asking a judge to ensure government records are preserved in case he’s indicted so he can seek to prove later that the charges are "vindictive" buff.ly/ezcJp8Y

John Bolton has left the building (didn't say anything) www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Hello on this mildly muggy morning from the federal courthouse in Greenbelt, Md., where former national security advisor John Bolton is expected to plead guilty to retaining national defense material. He didn't speak with reporters on the way in. Stay tuned. Prev: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

NEW: A federal judge in Boston has declared key sections of Trump's executive order on mail voting unlawful and specifically blocked the administration from enforcing them as to the Democratic-led states + DC that sued www.bloomberg.com/news/article... Opinion: assets.bwbx.io/documents/us...

In a 2-1 decision, the DC Circuit greenlit the Trump administration's efforts to expand its rapid deportation program. From Erik Larson: buff.ly/a4K3mfm Opinion: buff.ly/l2livMj

After DOJ said nope to judge's invitation to have officials certify under penalty of perjury that the $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund plan won't happen, judge makes good on her vow to set a schedule (with evergreen caveat that nothing is set in stone pending motions) Prev: buff.ly/tx6nYQX

UPDATE: Judge Friedrich will pause her order and temporarily block DOJ from releasing the Biden recordings/transcripts to Heritage for three weeks while he appeals her ruling to the DC Circuit www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Story: www.bloomberg.com/news/article... Doc: assets.bwbx.io/documents/us...

Story: www.bloomberg.com/news/article... Doc: assets.bwbx.io/documents/us...

New: A US judge denied former President Joe Biden’s request to block DOJ from turning over tapes and transcripts of interviews he privately recorded to a conservative advocacy group. Biden's lawyers say they'll appeal and asked the judge to halt disclosure for now www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

NEW: Unsealed records detail a secret court fight between Google and DOJ over what the company protested was a "grossly overbroad" warrant in 2023 to identify hundreds of users based on their search histories in connection with the 2021 DC pipe bombs investigation www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Trump's "anti-weaponization" fund is dead (DOJ says). But "weaponization" claims -- and the potential for million-dollar payouts of taxpayer dollars to people and causes aligned with the president -- remain very much alive www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

NEW: Trump's "anti-weaponization" fund is dead (DOJ says). But "weaponization" claims -- and the potential for million-dollar payouts of taxpayer dollars to people and causes aligned with the president -- remain very much alive. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Things are poised to come to a head soon in a pair of cases re: whether the Trump admin can turn over tapes/transcripts of Joe Biden interviews. Judge handling Heritage Foundation's FOIA case set to rule by next Friday; judge handling Biden's suit to stop disclosure to House GOP waiting for that

New: A federal appeals court has for now suspended a judge’s order to compel Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott to testify about the Trump administration’s efforts to refund $166 billion in tariffs declared unlawful by the US Supreme Court earlier this year buff.ly/SpDRrGN