President Donald Trump just settled a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS for $1.8 billion. There's a side provision that wasn't in the original announcement, and it protects his tax returns from audit.
A document signed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche - first reported by Politico - blocks the federal government from pursuing "any and all claims" the IRS could have brought related to tax returns filed before this week.
The protection covers a long list:
It applies to any IRS audits that were pending at the time of the settlement, and Blanche, who signed the document, is Trump's former criminal defense lawyer.
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Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon and the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, says the provision violates federal law. The statute he's pointing to makes it unlawful for the President, Vice President, or any executive branch employee other than the Attorney General to "request, directly or indirectly," that an IRS officer "conduct or terminate an audit or other investigation."
Wyden said the Trump family "is not above the law," and Democrats plan to fight the deal.
A DOJ spokeswoman said the protection covers only existing audits, not future ones, and called it a customary waiver of claims in a settlement.
The deal resolves a $10 billion lawsuit Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization filed in Miami federal court against the IRS over the leak of Trump-related tax filings by an IRS employee.
The Trumps agreed to drop that suit, while the DOJ agreed to set up what it calls an Anti-Weaponization Fund worth $1.8 billion. The fund is meant to compensate people the administration views as victims of "lawfare," which is what it calls politically motivated legal action by the Biden-era DOJ.
Trump also agreed to drop two administrative claims, including one tied to the Mar-a-Lago raid and another tied to the Russia investigation.
Even with those concessions, Democrats are calling the fund a "slush fund" for Trump allies, and that concern grew on Tuesday when Blanche, testifying to a Senate appropriations subcommittee, would not rule out compensating people convicted of assaulting police officers during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
The full list of who actually gets paid from the fund is the next thing to watch.
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