April 17 (Reuters) – Lawyers for Donald Trump and the Internal Revenue Service are in talks to settle the U.S. president’s $10 billion lawsuit against the tax collection agency for leaking his tax returns to the media in 2019 and 2020.
In a Friday filing in Miami federal court, the lawyers asked a judge to put the case on hold for 90 days “while the parties engage in discussions designed to resolve this matter and to avoid protracted litigation.” A pause “could narrow or resolve the issues efficiently,” they added.
The White House declined to comment. The Department of Justice, which represents the IRS, declined to comment.
A delay would give Justice Department lawyers more time to address conflicts of interest posed by the case, given that Trump is suing his own government.
Justice Department lawyers report ultimately to the president, while the IRS and the Treasury Department, which is also a defendant, are part of the executive branch.
Trump’s adult sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization are also plaintiffs.
JIM WATSON via Getty Images
IRS contractor leaked returns
The case arose from former IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn’s leak of Trump’s tax returns to media outlets, including the New York Times and ProPublica.
These returns showed that Trump paid little or no income taxes in many years, the Times reported in 2020.
Trump and the other plaintiffs said the leaks caused them financial harm and public embarrassment, and tarnished their reputations and public standing.
Prosecutors charged Littlejohn in 2023 with leaking tax records of Trump and thousands of other wealthy Americans to the media, saying he was motivated by a political agenda. Littlejohn later pleaded guilty to improper disclosures, and a judge sentenced him to five years in prison.
Any payout in Trump’s lawsuit would likely involve taxpayer dollars. Trump has said he would donate money collected from the case to charity.
“The IRS wrongly allowed a rogue, politically-motivated employee to leak private and confidential information” to the Times, ProPublica and other “left-wing news outlets,” a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said in a statement. “President Trump continues to hold those who wrong America and Americans accountable.”
Trump has filed other large lawsuits
Trump has filed many lawsuits in his personal capacity, often for large sums and as a result of reporting by various media, since winning a second White House term in 2024.
He is suing the New York Times and Penguin Random House for $15 billion over articles and a book he said were intended to undermine his reelection prospects, and suing the BBC for $10 billion over its editing of its broadcast of his speech preceding the January 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol.
On Monday, a judge threw out Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal over an article discussing a lewd birthday greeting for the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The judge said Trump can refile his lawsuit by April 27, and Trump said he would do so.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)