Trump’s demanding $10 billion from his own administration
Trump’s demanding $10 billion from his own administration
- Tue, Feb 17 2026 at 4:20 PM
Mark,
In January, President Trump sued the IRS and the Treasury Department, seeking $10 billion or more in damages for the disclosure of his and his company’s tax information during his first term.
Yes, you read that right, Trump is suing his own government. And yes, that puts him on both sides of the litigation, creating substantial constitutional and ethics concerns.Trump has said he intends to “work out a settlement with myself,” and Attorney General Bondi has made clear that the DOJ “work[s] at the directive of Donald Trump” and “will never stop fighting for him and for our country.”
Mark, this creates a conflict of interest so extreme that government lawyers literally can’t do their jobs.
That’s why CREW filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida to put a stop to this by staying Trump’s unprecedented lawsuit against the IRS and blocking any unconstitutional settlement between Trump and the DOJ while he remains in office.DONATE → The president has two hats in this litigation—his personal capacity as plaintiff and his role as chief executive. As our amicus brief explains:
This “make[s] it impossible for attorneys in the Department of Justice (DOJ) to fulfill their ethical duties to zealously represent the interests of the defendant agencies against President Trump’s claims.”
Therefore, government lawyers participating in the case would be in violation of Florida attorney ethics rules.
Any settlement in the case would also violate the Constitution’s Domestic Emoluments Clause, which bans the president from receiving any emolument, or payment, from the United States outside of the compensation set by Congress.
The Framers of the Constitution were concerned about a president using his office for personal profit—concerns which are directly implicated as Trump demands that his administration award him a massive windfall payment of taxpayer funds to settle legally and factually dubious claims.
Our brief makes it very clear: The ethical and constitutional issues raised by Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against agencies under his control are simply unavoidable.
The court has a duty to protect the public interest and pause this unprecedented case until Trump leaves office, and to prevent the sitting president from looting the Treasury of billions of taxpayer dollars.
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