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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).<\/p>\n
But the trouble, critics say, is that such a settlement would leave Trump essentially negotiating with an executive branch under his control.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Friday\u2019s court filing, however, emphasises the efficiency of seeking a settlement.<\/p>\n In the document, Trump\u2019s lawyers call for the case to be paused for 90 days to allow a resolution to be hammered out.<\/p>\n \u201cThis limited pause will neither prejudice the parties nor delay ultimate resolution,\u201d the filing says. \u201cRather, the extension will promote judicial economy and allow the Parties to explore avenues that could narrow or resolve the issues efficiently.\u201d<\/p>\n The case stems from an incident that began in 2017, when a worker named Charles \u201cChaz\u201d Littlejohn was re-hired as a contractor through the government consulting firm Booz Allen.<\/p>\n While working on IRS files, Littlejohn stole copies of Trump\u2019s tax returns, which had been the source of prolonged public scrutiny.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s low tax payments.<\/p>\n Privacy law protects taxpayer information from being released by the IRS without explicit permission. Littlejohn was sentenced to five years in prison in 2024.<\/p>\n 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 \u201csignificant and irreparable harm\u201d from the leaks.<\/p>\n The defendants in the lawsuit were the IRS and its overseeing body, the Treasury Department, both of which are part of the executive branch.<\/p>\n \u201cDefendants 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\u2019 public standing,\u201d the lawsuit reads.<\/p>\n But experts have warned that the lawsuit contains flaws that would normally prompt the Justice Department, also under Trump\u2019s control, to seek dismissal.<\/p>\n The lawsuit, for instance, arrives at its whopping $10bn sum by supposedly tallying up media references to Trump\u2019s leaked tax returns.<\/p>\n However, experts say the formula for damages is calculated by the number of unauthorised disclosures by a government employee, not by media re-printings.<\/p>\n Then there is the question of Littlejohn\u2019s employment status. He was an outside contractor, not a government employee.<\/p>\n Trump also has to contend with the two-year statute of limitations in the case. The lawsuit contends that \u201cPresident Trump did not discover the numerous violations\u201d of his tax returns until January 29, 2024.<\/p>\nRecommended Stories <\/h2>\n
How did the case start?<\/h2>\n
Questions of ethics and legality<\/h2>\n