US President Donald Trump has withdrawn his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) over the leak of his tax returns, according to court filings released Monday in Florida. The terms of the deal, including whether either party settled, were not disclosed.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday announced the establishment of a $1.77 billion fund called the 'Anti-Weaponisation Fund' that would 'provide a systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponisation and lawfare.' The DOJ stated it was part of the settlement agreement.
ABC News reported last week that Trump was prepared to drop the lawsuit as part of a deal to create a fund to compensate his allies who were allegedly wrongly investigated and prosecuted. Trump has long claimed the DOJ under President Joe Biden was weaponized against him.
Trump, his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization sued the IRS in January, arguing the agency failed to prevent former contractor Charles Littlejohn from leaking their tax returns to media outlets in 2019 and 2020. Littlejohn was sentenced to five years in prison in 2023 for leaking tax records of Trump and other wealthy Americans.
The deal sparked backlash from Democrats. Representative Jamie Raskin called the fund 'unconstitutional,' while California Governor Gavin Newsom accused Trump of using taxpayer money to pay 'Jan. 6th insurrectionists and his cronies.' Representative Pramila Jayapal called it 'open corruption.'
The DOJ cited the 'Keepseagle' program under the Obama administration as legal precedent. However, watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW) announced an investigation into the fund's use, with President Donald K. Sherman calling it 'one of the single most corrupt acts in American history.'
US District Judge Kathleen Williams, who was set to hold a hearing on whether to dismiss the case, must now decide whether to accept Trump's withdrawal. The case raised novel legal questions about a president suing his own government.
Source: www.aljazeera.com