Trump sues IRS, US treasury for $10b over tax leak
US President Donald Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the Revenue Administration and the Department of Treasury over the disclosure of tax returns to the media in 2019 and 2020.
In a complaint filed in Miami federal court, Trump, his adult sons and his namesake company said the agencies failed to take “mandatory measures” to prevent former IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn from leaking his tax returns to “left-wing media outlets,” including the New York Times and ProPublica.
The plaintiffs said they had suffered “substantial and irreparable harm” to their reputation and financial interests and could seek punitive damages because the leaks were caused by intent or gross negligence.
Thursday’s lawsuit puts Trump in the unusual position of suing government agencies that are part of the Executive Branch he leads.
The IRS is part of the Treasury Department. Neither agency immediately responded to requests for comment.
Treasury Secretary and acting IRS commissioner Scott Bessent is not a defendant. Other plaintiffs include Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and the Trump Organization.
Since being elected president for a second term in the White House in 2024, President Trump has filed multiple lawsuits in his personal capacity as a result of coverage by various media outlets, often for large sums of money.
He sued the New York Times and book publisher Penguin Random House for US$15 billion over articles and a book he said were aimed at undermining his election prospects in 2024.
Trump is separately seeking US$10 billion from the Wall Street Journal for an article discussing a birthday celebration for disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and US$10 billion from the BBC over the editing of a speech before the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Alejandro Brito, a Florida-based attorney, filed or helped file all of these cases, as well as lawsuits against the IRS and the Treasury Department. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment after business hours.
In Thursday’s complaint, Trump and other plaintiffs said the New York Times published at least eight articles and ProPublica published at least 50 based on Littlejohn’s statements.
According to the complaint, the leaks “caused plaintiffs reputational and financial harm, public embarrassment, unfairly damaged their business reputation, falsely portrayed them, and adversely affected the public reputation of President Trump and the other plaintiffs.”
Prosecutors accused Littlejohn of leaking the tax records of Trump and thousands of other wealthy Americans to the media in September 2023 and said he was motivated by a political agenda.
Littlejohn, 40, pleaded guilty the following month to unauthorized disclosure of income tax return information and was sentenced to five years in prison in January 2024.
The disclosures revealed that Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017.
from EFE
