Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies hearing on the fiscal year 2027 budget request for the Department of Justice on Tuesday. Blanche was also questioned about a memo he signed granting the Trump family immunity from the IRS. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed an order stating that the IRS is now “forever barred” from auditing the taxes of President Donald Trump, his family or his businesses.
The memo issued Tuesday said the agency “releases, waives, acquits” its pending action and is “forever barred and precluded” from making claims against the president, The Hill reported. The memo also protects them from any tax issues in the past.
The memo was inserted as a supplement to a deal that created a $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund to benefit Trump allies. That was after Trump and the Department of Justice voluntarily dismissed a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS for leaking the president’s tax returns.
“As is customary in settlements, both sides have executed waivers of a variety of claims that were or could have been brought. There would be little point in settling several significant claims if either party could simply turn around and seek to [initiate] more adverse claims that could have been pursued previously,” a Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement. “This is only with respect to existing audits, not future.”
Trump and his oldest sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, were also plaintiffs in the lawsuit. They won’t get money from the fund, but will get a formal apology.
The New York Times and ProPublica found in a 2024 years-long audit that his tax bill could have cost Trump as much as $100 million.
Frank Bisignano, CEO of the IRS, signed the settlement deal, but only Blanche signed the memo granting the president and his family immunity.
On Tuesday, Blanche went before the Senate Appropriations Committee just after he posted the memo. Senators questioned him about the fund.
“This all seems to be an obvious abuse of power by the Department of Justice, by the president. He negotiated essentially with himself. You’re his appointee, the IRS are his appointees, he’s the plaintiff,” said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I. The Hill reported that Reed later called Blanche, “the president’s consigliere.”
“And the American people, I don’t think, are surprised that suddenly all this money is going to his friends or people that are in his orbit,” Reed added.
Republican leader Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said he “was not a big fan” of the fund and that he did not see a “purpose” to it.
Brandon DeBot, a senior attorney adviser at New York University’s Tax Law Center, said in a statement that the fund may not be legal.
“The I.R.S. would need to act to make the release of claims effective, which could raise additional questions about whether there has been unlawful political interference in the audit process,” The New York Times reported he said. “The settlement and general release of claims is a breathtaking abuse of the tax and legal system.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said Blanche was not acting as an independent guardian of the public’s interests, The Times reported.
Blanche said in response that he was “the acting attorney general.”
Van Hollen said, “Mr. Attorney General, you are acting today like the president’s personal attorney, and that’s the whole problem.”
This week in Washington
President Donald Trump turns to photographers in the press pool after greeting guests during the Congressional Picnic on the South Lawn of the White House on Tuesday. Photo by Samuel Corum/UPI | License Photo
