President Donald Trump is moving to withdraw a $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service after a leak of his tax returns appeared amid rumors that the administration was looking to compensate some of the president’s allies.
Read more 4 naval aviators survive crash witnessed by thousands at Idaho air show
As part of the deal with the IRS, the administration announced the creation of a billion-dollar fund to compensate allies who they say were mistreated under the Biden administration.
The disclosure was made in a filing in federal court in Florida, where the lawsuit was filed, The Associated Press reported.
He filed the suit earlier this year in Florida federal court, arguing that a leak of his and the Trump Organization’s confidential tax records caused harm to his reputation and finances, public embarrassment, harm to his business and portraying them in a false light, the AP said.
Lawyers for Trump in April asked the judge to pause the case for 90 days while the two sides worked to reach a settlement.
Trump reportedly was creating a $1.776 billion compensation fund for those who he said were wrongly targets under the Biden administration.
It was not clear who exactly benefit from the fund, but it furthers the president’s longstanding claim that the Biden administration and the Justice Department weaponized against Trump and his allies.
In February, he said potential damages earned from the case could go toward something for charity.
“We could make it a substantial amount,” he said. “Nobody would care because it’s going to go to numerous very good charities.”
Trump has pointed to the criminal charges he faced between his two terms related to conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election and the classified documents he held at Mar-a-Lago after leaving office.
Several of Trump’s aides and allies have been prosecuted related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Read more What to know about the Ebola outbreak CDC calls an ‘evolving situation”
Trump filed the lawsuit personally and not on behalf of the federal government.
Biden administration officials like former Attorney General Merrick Garland have said they were not pursuing political revenge and pointed to the investigations into former President Biden for keeping classified documents and his son, Hunter Biden, who was prosecuted over tax and gun charges.
Still, the Trump administration’s Justice Department has pursued cases against Trump’s perceived adversaries.
The announcement Monday of the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” by the Justice Department confirms that the government would be pursuing aid for the president’s allies. The fund is $1.776 billion.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the fund in a statement and said the department would be providing a “systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare.”
Trump, named a plaintiff in the suit with his sons, will receive a formal apology from the IRS but no monetary payment of damages, the DOJ’s statement said.
“The machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American, and it is this Department’s intention to make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again,” Blanche said in a statement. “As part of this settlement, we are setting up a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.”
The fund allows the government to issue formal apologies and monetary relief owed. The DOJ said there are “no partisan requirements to file a claim.”
The money will come from the “judgment fund,” which is a perpetual appropriation that allows the DOJ to settle and pay cases.
They pointed to the Obama-era “Keepseagle” case where the administration created a multimillion-dollar fund in 2011.
Read more WATCH LIVE: Bus-sized asteroid to miss Earth on a Monday flyby, but not by much
Blanche will appoint five members to commission the fund.