Trump, His Two Sons Sue IRS Over Tax Return Leak

President Donald Trump, his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr., and the Trump Organization have filed a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) over leaks of their business and personal tax returns.

The Details: The lawsuit seeks $10 billion in damages for what the Trumps describe as "reputational and financial harm" following a tax record leak by Charles Littlejohn, a former IRS contractor, in 2019. They argue the IRS and Treasury Department were negligent and acted in an "overtly political nature" by failing to implement mandatory safeguards that would've blocked Littlejohn from accessing the data. They also allege these disclosures "unfairly tarnished" their business reputations and were intended to "improperly influence the 2020 presidential election."

For Context: The lawsuit comes after the Treasury Department canceled its contracts with Booz Allen Hamilton, the government contractor that had employed Littlejohn, this week. In 2023, Littlejohn pleaded guilty to stealing and leaking tax records of Trump and roughly 7,600 other wealthy individuals to news outlets, including The New York Times (Lean Left bias) and ProPublica (Lean Left). He was sentenced to five years in prison. According to the leaks, Trump had only paid $750 in federal income taxes in both 2016 and 2017. During his first administration, Trump refused to release his tax returns despite saying he would do so during his campaign.

How the Media Covered It: Fox News (Right) and Just the News (Lean Right) highlighted the illegality of Littlejohn's actions and focused on the lawsuit's claims that the leak caused harm by violating federal privacy laws. Fox News quoted a spokesperson from Trump's legal team calling Littlejohn a "rogue, politically motivated" IRS employee. Just the News noted the lawsuit marks the "first time a sitting president has ever sued his own administration for a monetary reward." CNBC (Lean Left) also noted a president suing their own administration is "unheard of," and said it "raises various conflict-of-interest questions." CNN (Lean Left) noted Trump broke a "decades-long tradition" for presidential candidates to release their tax returns. MarketWatch (Center) noted the potential impact on taxpayers and mentioned Trump also sued JMorgan Chase and its CEO last week, accusing them of closing his accounts for political reasons after Jan. 6, 2021.

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