Justice Department considers settling Trump’s $10 billion IRS leak lawsuit
By Paula Reid, Alayna Treene, Casey Gannon, CNN
(CNN) — The Justice Department is discussing whether to settle President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service in the coming days, according to two sources familiar.
Among the options being discussed internally is whether a settlement would include a provision on the IRS dropping audits of the president and members of his family, as well as audits of the family’s businesses, the people said.
One of the people familiar said that the possibility is one of many options under consideration, and that no firm decisions have been made. It remains unclear if a monetary settlement is being considered. If it is, it could result in the Trump Justice Department making a payment to the president himself — raising unprecedented ethical questions.
“The IRS wrongly allowed a rogue, politically-motivated employee to leak private and confidential information about President Trump, his family, and the Trump Organization to the New York Times, ProPublica and other left-wing news outlets, which was then illegally released to millions of people,” a spokesman for Trump’s legal team told CNN in a statement. “President Trump continues to hold those who wrong America and Americans accountable.”
CNN reached out the IRS, which referred to the Justice Department for comment. The Justice Department declined to comment. The New York Times was first to report the potential term being floated in the settlement talks.
Trump sued the US Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department in January for at least $10 billion, accusing the agency of an unauthorized leak of his tax returns during his first administration.
The suit was filed in federal court in Florida. Trump, who filed the suit alongside his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, is suing personally, not in his official capacity as president.
The lawsuit alleged that the government failed to protect Trump and the Trump Organization’s confidential tax information, which was leaked to the press by Charles Littlejohn, a former IRS contractor.
Littlejohn, who worked as a government contractor at Booz Allen Hamilton, illegally obtained and disclosed Trump’s tax returns to publications like the New York Times and ProPublica, the suit alleged. He has since been sentenced to five years in prison.
The outside settlement talks come as the lawsuit has had a skeptical reception in court.
A federal judge last month questioned the constitutionality of Trump’s lawsuit, ordering a hearing to determine whether the president can sue federal agencies that he oversees.
Florida District Judge Kathleen M. Williams said it is unclear whether Trump and the agencies are “sufficiently adverse to each other” and ordered both sides to provide more information on the relationship.
“Although President Trump avers that he is bringing this lawsuit in his personal capacity, he is the sitting president and his named adversaries are entities whose decisions are subject to his direction,” Williams, an Obama appointee, said at the time.
A series of settlements
The Justice Department’s settlement talks come as it has already settled other lawsuits brought by Trump allies.
In April, the Justice Department settled a lawsuit brought by former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, who sued the DOJ and FBI over flawed government surveillance he faced due to his Russian contacts in 2016, according to a filing with the Supreme Court.
In March, it settled a lawsuit with Michael Flynn, awarding him over a million dollars following what he said was a wrongful prosecution.
Flynn sued the government for $50 million, alleging that the FBI tried to entrap him in the early days of the Trump administration.
The-CNN-Wire
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