The Department of Justice is giving President Donald Trump, his family and his businesses immunity from ever being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service over past tax issues.
It’s 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.”