IRS Union Joins Suit Over Trump Tax Audit Immunity Order
The National Treasury Employees Union says its members would be forced to end audits of the president and his businesses under an order granting his family immunity.
The union representing Treasury Department and IRS employees has joined a lawsuit originally brought to block the Trump administration's now-defunct "Anti-Weaponization Fund," and is now asking a federal court to stop a separate settlement extending immunity to President Donald Trump and members of his family from past audits of their tax returns.
In an amended civil complaint filed Thursday in the Eastern District of Virginia, the National Treasury Employees Union argued that its members could be harmed by the immunity order because they would have to unlawfully extend protections to Trump and his family that other Americans do not receive.
"Under the Immunity Order, career IRS employees will be forced to terminate ongoing audits of the President and his businesses, giving the President a lucrative and unconstitutional emolument," the complaint said. "That would be unprecedented under any circumstance; it is all the more remarkable considering that the President profited an eye-popping $2.2 billion after returning to the White House."
The $1.776 billion fund was announced in May by the Justice Department to compensate people who allege they were wrongly targeted under the Biden administration. It was proposed in exchange for Trump agreeing to drop his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS, along with two civil claims totaling $230 million tied to the Russia collusion investigation he faced during his first term and the 2022 search of his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Critics accused the administration of self-dealing, and the proposal drew bipartisan objections over the possible use of taxpayer money to pay rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
It is not immediately clear how the judge overseeing the original lawsuit will respond to the amended complaint, after the Justice Department confirmed in writing this week that the fund had been rescinded.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema had initially allowed the litigation to move forward after the administration refused to verify under penalty of perjury that the fund was dead, but said she could revisit that decision and potentially dismiss the case if officials changed course.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche affirmed in a written order this week that the "Anti-Weaponization Fund" was dead. He acted under pressure from two Republican senators whose support for his nomination as attorney general hinged on whether he would make such a declaration.
This article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI), in accordance with our editorial policy.
