"I'm supposed to work out a settlement with myself," President Donald Trump told reporters a few days after he sued the IRS. He wasn't kidding: His January 29 lawsuit, which alleged damages caused by an IRS contractor's illegal leaking of Trump's tax returns, pitted him against an agency he oversees, represented by Justice Department lawyers who also answer to him.
The result of Trump's admitted self-dealing was not pretty. The "settlement" that the president reached with himself, which Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced on May 18, included $1.8 billion in taxpayer money for purported victims of the Biden administration's "lawfare and weaponization." It also included protection from liability for tax violations and any other federal offenses that Trump or his family might have committed.
