Democrats slam Trump over IRS lawsuit settlement report

Democratic lawmakers criticized the Trump administration on Friday over reports that President Donald Trump would drop a $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service in exchange for what some called a $1.7 billion “secret fund.”

Sen., the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee. “This administration is dripping with corruption from top to bottom,” Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said, “but rushing into a deal to steal $1.7 billion of taxpayers’ money for a slush fund before a judge throws out your frivolous case ranks among the most corrupt acts in American political history.”

“This case has never been anything other than a concussion of the American people by a crooked president and his lawyers,” Wyden said.

Trump, his two eldest sons and the family business sued the IRS and Treasury Department over the 2019 leak of the president’s tax returns. This was an unprecedented move at the time that raised concerns about conflicts of interest.

Quoting sources familiar with the situation, ABC News reported: He said Thursday that Trump and the IRS could settle his case in exchange for a compensation fund that could be used to compensate the president’s allies who claim they were unfairly targeted by the Biden administration.

The New York Times reported On Tuesday, the Department of Justice said it was considering resolving Trump’s IRS case, again citing familiar sources.

The deal could include transferring taxpayer funds or another public benefit to Trump and ending any oversight of Trump, his family and his business, the Times reported.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

“Thanks to your tax dollars, Trump is ‘dropping’ his bogus lawsuit against the IRS in exchange for a slush fund he can use to pay off his political allies,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., wrote to X on Friday.

“Trump is lining his and his friends’ pockets while people are drowning in high prices and inflation. We will fight it,” Hollen wrote.

The exact terms of any settlement have not yet been finalized, but it could include a victim compensation fund as well as a truth-and-reconciliation-style commission that could vote on monetary awards, ABC News reported.

“Donald Trump is orchestrating a $1,700,000,000 fraud on American taxpayers to line the pockets of his MAGA political allies, another installment in his ongoing efforts to turn the federal government into a personal cash machine for his unpopular extremist movement,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. “This is a massive and unprecedented presidential plunder of the American people.”