No one can complain about President Donald Trump being unable to multi-task. While he oversees the situation in Iran, visits China, and indicts Raol Castro, he also delivers the commencement address at the United States Coast Guard Academy and agrees to withdraw the $10 billion lawsuit that he filed against the IRS for leaking his private tax documents.
Lauren Irwin reported on the settlement in her article published at the Deseret News. As part of the agreement, the Department of Justice has agreed to give “President Donald Trump, his family and his businesses immunity from ever being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service over past tax issues.” This does not say anything about current and future tax issues, but past tax issues cannot be investigated.
This
agreement is “part of a deal the DOJ made when creating a$1.8 billion fund to
compensate people or organizations who were prosecuted by past administrations
for what the Trump administration says were political purposes.
Acting
Attorney General Todd Blanche, who was grilled by lawmakers on Capitol Hill on
Tuesday, would not rule out the possibility that people who participated in the
Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol will be considered for payouts from the
new fund, per The Associated Press.
The
news about the IRS not being able to prosecute the Trump family and
organization was quietly added to the press release and was first reported by
Politico.
On
Monday, it was revealed that Trump would be moving to withdraw a $10 billion
lawsuit he had filed against the IRS over a leak of his old tax returns.
The
suit was filed earlier this year, but as part of the nine-page settlement
agreement Monday, the administration announced the creation of the
billion-dollar fund to compensate allies who they say were mistreated by the
Biden administration.
A
one-page settlement agreement was expanded Tuesday and is an unprecedented step
that the administration has taken, benefiting the president and his family
directly by saying the IRS is “forever barred and precluded” from pursuing
investigations into Trump, “related or affiliated individuals,” trusts and
businesses related to the president and their past tax information.
The
document was signed by Blanche, who made no mention of the addition when he
testified before the Senate on Tuesday.
Trump
filed the lawsuit against the IRS in his personal capacity and not on behalf of
the federal government. His lawyers moved in April to ask the judge to pause
the case while they worked to reach a settlement.
The
DOJ said that Trump will receive a formal apology from the IRS over the leak of
his tax records but no monetary payment of damages.
DOJ
spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre said in a statement to the Deseret News that
it is customary for both sides of a case to have executed waivers “of a variety
of claims that were or could have been brought.”
“There
would be little point in settling several significant claims if either party
could simply turn around and seek to initiative more adverse claims that could
have been pursued previously,” she said.
Democrats hope to block ‘weaponization’ fund.
House
Judiciary Democrats said on Monday they had filed a motion to block the $1.8
billion fund and asked a judge to step in and stop the administration from “engaging
in collusive lawsuits.”
On
Tuesday, the group of Democrats called the IRS’s exception for Trump a “super-pardon,”
and said it was a “total free ride.”
Ranking
members Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., said they
were demanding Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Blanche and the IRS CEO “preserve
records and provide answers” about the fund and the agreement given to the
Trump family. The Democrats say that a president has never pursued corruption “this
brazenly or on such a colossal scale.”
Two
law enforcement officers who protected the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, filed a
lawsuit suing the Trump administration to block the implementation of the fund.
Harry Dunn, a former member of the U.S. Capitol Police, and Daniel Hodges, a
current member of the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, say the
new fund goes against the Constitution.
The
officers argued the fund would fuel violent groups.
However,
Trump, speaking to reporters Wednesday, said the people who would benefit from
the fund were “destroyed” and went to jail, their families were ruined and they
“committed suicide.”
“The
Obama administration started it and the Biden administration, was horrible in
terms of what they’ve done to people is incredible,” he said. “And we’re reimbursing
those people for their legal fees and for their costs and for anybody involved.”
