Court filings have indicated that lawyers for President Donald Trump are seeking a resolution with the Department of Justice over a $10bn lawsuit he filed against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). But the trouble, critics say, is that such a settlement would leave Trump essentially negotiating with an executive branch under his control. Friday’s court filing, however, emphasises the efficiency of seeking a settlement.
In the document, Trump’s lawyers call for the case to be paused for 90 days to allow a resolution to be hammered out. While working on IRS files, Littlejohn stole copies of Trump’s tax returns, which had been the source of prolonged public scrutiny. Until Trump, every president since Richard Nixon had released their tax returns as a gesture of transparency.
Trump, however, claimed he could not, citing ongoing audits. The tax returns Littlejohn stole were ultimately released to the media, and in 2020, The New York Times released a series of articles that showed Trump paid no income taxes in 10 of the 15 preceding years. Other years, he paid relatively small sums, like $750, because he reported more losses than gains.
ProPublica also ran stories based on the leaked tax returns, highlighting inconsistencies and Trump’s low tax payments. Privacy law protects taxpayer information from being released by the IRS without explicit permission. Littlejohn was sentenced to five years in prison in 2024.
But in late January of this year, Trump filed a lawsuit arguing that he, his businesses and his sons Eric and Donald Jr had suffered “significant and irreparable harm” from the leaks. The defendants in the lawsuit were the IRS and its overseeing body, the Treasury Department, both of which are part of the executive branch. But experts have warned that the lawsuit contains flaws that would normally prompt the Justice Department, also under Trump’s control, to seek dismissal.
The lawsuit, for instance, arrives at its whopping $10bn sum by supposedly tallying up media references to Trump’s leaked tax returns. However, experts say the formula for damages is calculated by the number of unauthorised disclosures by a government employee, not by media re-printings. Then there is the question of Littlejohn’s employment status.
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