President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), seeking $10 billion in damages over alleged leaked tax returns he claims caused financial and reputational harm. The suit, filed in Miami federal court, also names his eldest sons, Eric and Donald Jr., and their family business, The Trump Organization, as plaintiffs.
The lawsuit asserts that the IRS and U.S. Treasury Department “had a duty to safeguard and protect Plaintiffs’ confidential tax returns,” which were leaked to the press by Charles “Chaz” Littlejohn, a former IRS employee, between May 2019 and September 2020.
“Defendants have caused Plaintiffs’ reputational and financial harm, public embarrassment, unfairly tarnished their business reputations, portrayed them in a false light, and negatively affected President Trump, and the other Plaintiffs’ public standing,” the filing reads.
Littlejohn pleaded guilty in 2023 to releasing Trump’s tax returns and is currently serving a five-year prison sentence.
The leaked returns, first reported by The New York Times in September 2020, revealed that Trump, who had repeatedly refused to make his tax filings public, paid $750 in federal income tax in both 2016 and 2017, and nothing for 10 of the previous 15 years.
This is not Trump’s first legal action against the federal government. In a separate case, he reportedly sought $230 million from the U.S. Department of Justice over investigations related to his handling of classified documents and efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
Trump Sues IRS for $10 Billion Over Alleged Tax Return Leak
President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), seeking $10 billion in damages over alleged leaked tax returns he claims caused financial and reputational harm. The suit, filed in Miami federal court, also names his eldest sons, Eric and Donald Jr., and their family business, The Trump Organization, as plaintiffs.
The lawsuit asserts that the IRS and U.S. Treasury Department “had a duty to safeguard and protect Plaintiffs’ confidential tax returns,” which were leaked to the press by Charles “Chaz” Littlejohn, a former IRS employee, between May 2019 and September 2020.
“Defendants have caused Plaintiffs’ reputational and financial harm, public embarrassment, unfairly tarnished their business reputations, portrayed them in a false light, and negatively affected President Trump, and the other Plaintiffs’ public standing,” the filing reads.
Littlejohn pleaded guilty in 2023 to releasing Trump’s tax returns and is currently serving a five-year prison sentence.
The leaked returns, first reported by The New York Times in September 2020, revealed that Trump, who had repeatedly refused to make his tax filings public, paid $750 in federal income tax in both 2016 and 2017, and nothing for 10 of the previous 15 years.
This is not Trump’s first legal action against the federal government. In a separate case, he reportedly sought $230 million from the U.S. Department of Justice over investigations related to his handling of classified documents and efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
