President Donald Trump and the Internal Revenue Service are currently negotiating a potential settlement for his massive $10 billion legal claim against the federal tax agency over unauthorized disclosure of his tax documents.
Legal representatives from both sides submitted a request to a Miami federal court on Friday, asking for a three-month suspension of proceedings “while the parties engage in discussions designed to resolve this matter and to avoid protracted litigation.” The attorneys indicated that this temporary halt “could narrow or resolve the issues efficiently.”
Neither the White House nor the Department of Justice, which is defending the IRS, provided immediate responses to requests for comment.
The lawsuit also names Trump’s sons Donald Jr. and Eric Trump, along with the Trump Organization, as additional plaintiffs in the case.
This pause would provide Justice Department attorneys additional time to navigate the complex conflict of interest issues inherent in a case where the president is taking legal action against his own administration. Department of Justice lawyers ultimately answer to the president, while both the IRS and Treasury Department fall under executive branch authority.
The legal dispute stems from actions by Charles Littlejohn, a former IRS contractor who illegally disclosed Trump’s tax documents to news organizations including the New York Times and ProPublica. The leaked information revealed that Trump paid minimal or zero federal income taxes across multiple years, according to 2020 Times reporting.
Trump and his co-plaintiffs claim the unauthorized releases resulted in monetary damages and public humiliation, while damaging their reputations and standing in the community.
Federal prosecutors brought charges against Littlejohn in 2023 for illegally sharing tax information belonging to Trump and thousands of other wealthy individuals to media organizations, stating he acted with political motivations. Littlejohn subsequently entered a guilty plea to charges of improper disclosure and received a five-year prison sentence.
Any financial settlement in Trump’s case would likely come from public funds. Trump has previously stated he plans to donate any money received from this litigation to charitable causes.
The current president has initiated numerous high-dollar lawsuits in his individual capacity since securing his second presidential term in 2024, many targeting media organizations over their coverage.
Trump is pursuing a $15 billion case against the New York Times and Penguin Random House regarding articles and a publication he claims were designed to damage his reelection campaign. He’s also seeking $10 billion from the BBC over how the network edited footage of his remarks before the January 6, 2021 Capitol incident.
Earlier this week, a judge dismissed Trump’s $10 billion claim against the Wall Street Journal concerning an article about an inappropriate birthday message for deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The court gave Trump until April 27 to refile the case, which he indicated he plans to do.
