Trump and sons seek $10 billion taxpayer-funded payday in IRS lawsuit

President Donald Trump sued the IRS and the Treasury Department on Thursday, alleging they failed to “safeguard” his and his family’s tax returns from being leaked to the press.

Trump, along with his sons, Eric and Don Jr., and the Trump Organization, are seeking $10 billion in damages, according to a lawsuit filed in Florida’s Southern District Court.

The lawsuit alleges that the IRS and Treasury Department “had a duty to…protect” the Trumps’ “tax returns and related tax return information from such unauthorized inspection and public disclosure.”

The lawsuit comes after former IRS consultant Charles E. Littlejohn was sentenced to five years in prison in 2024 for stealing the tax records of thousands of wealthy Americans, including the Trumps. He later provided the records to ProPublica and The New York Times, which published them.

“Defendants have caused Plaintiffs reputational and financial harm, public embarrassment, unfairly tarnished their business reputations, portrayed them in a false light, and negatively affected President Trump, and the other Plaintiffs’ public standing,” the lawsuit reads.

Trump has previously filed claims against the government which he presides over. Last October, Trump demanded that the Department of Justice pay him $230 million in compensation for prior investigations. He described the situations as one where he could be “paying myself.”

“I’m the one that makes the decision and that decision would have to go across my desk,” Trump said.