Justice Department agrees not to pursue any tax claims against Trump in IRS deal

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed an agreement Tuesday declaring the federal government will not seek any sort of audit or payment from the president, his family members and companies on pending tax claims as part of Donald Trump ’s settlement agreement with the IRS.

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In a sweeping one-page addendum to Monday’s settlement agreement establishing a nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, Blanche agreed that the U.S. is “FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED from prosecuting or pursuing, any and all claims,” including “monetary relief,” that “have been or could have been” asserted by the IRS against Trump, his family or his businesses.

The addendum comes a day after the Justice Department announced that Trump and his co-plaintiffs would drop their $10 billion suit against the IRS and the Treasury Department over leaked tax returns, as well as claims involving the 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago, his Florida home, and the Russian collusion scandal “in exchange” for creating the fund, which the Justice Department said set up a “systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare.”

The addendum blocks the U.S. from seeking damages that could have been asserted against the plaintiffs — Trump, his sons Donald Jr. and Eric and their company — as well as other family members and their companies in “any matters currently pending or that could be pending (including tax returns filed before the Effective Date) before Defendants or other agencies or departments.”

The “effective date” would be May 18, the date the settlement was signed. The addendum does not specify which other agencies or departments it is referring to.

A spokesperson for the Justice Department said the agreement is “only with respect to existing audits, not future.”

The settlement and addendum were agreed to before a court-ordered deadline for this week that would have required the administration answer questions about the president’s IRS lawsuit given his control over the Justice Department.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. Williams, who was presiding over the case, ordered the matter closed Monday after the Trumps moved to dismissed their suit.

Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said in a statement Tuesday that Trump has “turned the federal government into his personal protection racket.”

“This settlement is corruption in the plainest sight: forcing IRS to abandon every audit, past and present, into Trump, his family, and their businesses while steering $1.8 billion in taxpayer dollars toward his friends, cronies, and Trump-affiliated companies is self-dealing at its most grotesque,” the statement said.

“It’s a dark, dark day for our democracy.”