U.S. DOJ Expands Trump-IRS Deal

(MENAFN) The US Justice Department quietly broadened its settlement of President Donald Trump's lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday, extending the agreement to shield Trump, his family, and his business entities from any future pursuit of unpaid tax claims, according to media reports.

Monday's original settlement had established a nearly $1.8 billion fund to "compensate victims of alleged weaponization of law enforcement," but made no reference to resolving longstanding disputes over Trump's tax returns — documents the president has repeatedly claimed were subjected to prolonged IRS audits.

A supplementary document published Tuesday on the Justice Department's website went significantly further, declaring that the IRS is "forever barred and precluded" from pursuing "examinations" of Trump, "related or affiliated individuals," and associated trusts and businesses.

The Tuesday addendum was signed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, though it bore no signatures from IRS officials or Trump's current legal team — a notable departure from Monday's agreement, which carried the signatures of Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, IRS CEO Frank Bisignano, and Trump attorney Daniel Epstein. The Justice Department offered no explanation for either the omission of Tuesday's waiver from the original deal or the change in signatories.

In a statement, the Justice Department defended the expanded terms: "As is customary in settlements, both sides have executed waivers of a variety of claims that were or could have been brought." It added: "There would be little point in settling several significant claims if either party could simply turn around and seek to (initiate) more adverse claims that could have been pursued previously," while clarifying: "This is only with respect to existing audits, not future."

The expanded deal drew swift condemnation from former IRS leadership. John Koskinen, who served as IRS commissioner from 2013 to 2017, told media the settlement set a "terrible precedent" that could effectively hand Trump a "windfall."

"It makes you wonder what the president has to hide in those tax returns," said Koskinen. "He's apparently been actively trading in the stock market and, since he knows a lot more about situations than the average investor, he's probably generated significant taxable earnings. Not auditing his returns is the same as giving him an easy way to, in effect, receive money from the government."

Danny Werfel, IRS commissioner from 2023 to 2025, was equally pointed in his assessment, telling Politico that he was "unaware of a single precedent where the IRS has agreed in advance to permanently forgo examination of previously filed tax returns for a specific person or business."

Pre-settlement reporting had signaled the deal might include a government agreement to abandon all Trump-related audits and potentially exempt the president from scrutiny going forward.

Woodward pushed back against mounting criticism, defending both the settlement structure and the creation of the Anti-Weaponization Fund. "I already have the authority to settle any claim that is brought against the United States of America," he told reporters. "I frankly think that we should be ecstatic about the idea that we're going to inject more accountability into the process, as opposed to having just one person sign off on settlements."

He urged restraint in early condemnation: "I think that it's way, way, way too early for us to rush to judgment on whether this was a good or a bad idea, to describe it as a slush fund, or really even to criticize it," he added — declining, however, to address questions about Tuesday's addendum permanently closing all pending tax audits against the president and his companies.

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