The ascendancy of Todd Blanche shows how the practices that were initially deemed out of bounds even in President Trump’s Justice Department seem to be the order of the day.

© Doug Mills/The New York Times

The group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, doubled down on its request to a federal judge to issue a formal order stopping the fund from being set up.

© Eric Lee for The New York Times

The former judges argued that the purported settlement of the case was the product of collusion and fraud.

The former judges argued that the purported settlement of the case was the product of collusion and fraud.