President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media on the South Lawn of the White House on Friday. On Monday, he told a federal court in Miami he wants to drop his lawsuit against the IRS. Photo by Eric Lee/UPI | License Photo
President Donald Trump and his two oldest sons dropped their $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service on Monday as part of a settlement that will create a $1.8 billion fund to compensate those who said they were unfairly investigated by previous presidents.
The Justice Department announced the establishment of the Anti-Weaponization Fund to hear and redress claims of targeting by previous administrations.
“The machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American, and it is this department’s intention to make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said.
“As part of the this settlement, we are setting up a lawful process for victims of law fare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.”
The settlement was foreshadowed by a filing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Monday morning in which the president, his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization as plaintiffs, said they were voluntarily dropping the suit “with prejudice,” indicating they can’t make the same claims in another suit later. President Trump filed the suit in his capacity as a civilian, not the president.
The Justice Department said as part of the settlement, no monetary payment or damages would be paid to the Trump’s, but they will receive a formal apology.
The Trumps first launched the lawsuit in January, accusing an IRS employee of leaking President Trump’s tax returns to news outlets during his first term as president. Former IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to disclosing President Trump’s tax returns in 2019 and 2020 to news organizations.
“Defendants have caused Plaintiffs reputational and financial harm, public embarrassment, unfairly tarnished their business reputations, portrayed them in a false light and negatively affected President Trump and the other plaintiffs’ public standing,” the lawsuit said.
This week in Washington
Vice President JD Vance speaks during a news conference on anti-fraud initiatives in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House on Wednesday. Photo by Daniel Heuer/UPI | License Photo
