WASHINGTON — Lawyers for President Donald Trump are in settlement discussions with the Internal Revenue Service over a $10 billion lawsuit the president filed against the agency earlier this year alleging the unauthorized leak of his tax records, according to a federal court filing on Friday.
The joint filing requests a 90-day pause on proceedings in the case while the parties “engage in discussions designed to resolve this matter and to avoid protracted litigation”. The request came before a Monday deadline for the Justice Department to file its response to the lawsuit.
President Trump, along with his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump and the Trump Organization, filed suit in a Florida federal court in January, alleging that the IRS failed to prevent the disclosure of confidential tax information between 2018 and 2020. The leak was carried out by Charles Edward Littlejohn, a former IRS contractor who worked for Booz Allen Hamilton, according to court documents. Littlejohn pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison in 2024.
The leaked information formed the basis of news reports, including a 2020 New York Times investigation that found Trump paid $750 in federal income tax the year he entered the White House and no income tax in some other years due to reported business losses.
When asked in February how he would handle any potential damages, Trump told reporters, “I think what we’ll do is do something for charity,” adding, “Nobody would care because it’s going to go to numerous very good charities”.
The case has raised legal and ethical questions, as the president oversees the executive branch agencies he is suing. The watchdog group Democracy Forward argued in a February court filing that the case is “extraordinary because the President controls both sides of the litigation, which raises the prospect of collusive litigation tactics”.
