Trump sues his own government

Charles Littlejohn, a contractor working on IRS systems, leaked tax information on Trump and thousands of wealthy Americans to the New York Times and ProPublica. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced in January 2024 to five years. [1]

In January 2026 Trump sued in his personal capacity for $10 billion. In May his Justice Department, led by his former defense lawyer Todd Blanche, settled: no money to Trump, a formal apology, and a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” run by five commissioners Blanche would appoint, to compensate people the government had wronged. [2][3][4]

A memo added the next day barred the IRS from pursuing Trump, his family or his businesses over past taxes. The judge later noted the fund was premised on paying claims tied to January 6 and the classified-documents case. After objections from both parties, Blanche told lawmakers in June the fund was dead. [5]

After the case was dismissed, retired judges asked Judge Kathleen Williams to scrutinize the deal. On 13 July 2026 she found the suit was filed for an improper purpose: “an attempt to use the Court to provide some legitimacy to an agreement to confer immunity to people and entities affiliated with the President and to earmark billions of dollars from American taxpayers.” [1][2]

She said the tax-amnesty memo “directly contravenes” a law barring executive-branch officials from influencing audits, referred her opinion to bar authorities reviewing complaints against Blanche and another senior official, referred one of Trump’s private lawyers to the Florida Bar and barred another from appearing in that court for a year. Trump’s legal team pointed back to the leak, and Trump appealed. [2][3][4]