Trump 14th Amendment challenge organizer arrested on tax charges

John Anthony Castro, the organizer of multiple lawsuits challenging former President Donald Trump's eligibility for the White House, was arrested this week on tax charges.

Authorities have alleged that he maintained a tax filing business in which he offered to secure higher tax refunds and submitted false filings to the government.

"In order to achieve these larger refunds, Castro generated false deductions, that were not based in fact, and which were submitted without the taxpayer’s knowledge," prosecutors said, according to The Hill. He was charged with 33 counts of aiding the preparation of false tax returns for filing 17 sets of false documents with the IRS.

Castro, for his part, insisted that the case was retaliation for his efforts to challenge Trump's ballot eligibility, telling The Hill "I don’t care if they offered me one day probation and a slap on the wrist in exchange for a guilty plea. This is going to trial. I am going to convince all 12 jurors that I am 100 percent innocent and that this is political retaliation." He further said that he paid $700,000 to the IRS in 2021 to resolve the matter and that some of his clients had erred.

His arrest came the same day that federal Judge Gloria Navarro dismissed Castro's challenge to Trump's ballot eligibility in Nevada under the 14th Amendment. Navarro did not rule on the merits of the case, but found that Castro had only filed to run for president to manufacture legal standing against Trump as a political competitor.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.