President Donald Trump has initiated legal action against the US Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department, seeking a minimum of $10 billion in damages. He alleges that the agency improperly disclosed his tax returns during his initial term in office. A lawsuit was initiated on Thursday in a federal court located in Florida. Trump, accompanied by his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, is pursuing legal action against the IRS and Treasury in a personal capacity, rather than in his official role as president. The lawsuit contended that the government did not adequately safeguard the confidential tax information of Trump and the Trump Organization, which was disclosed by Charles Littlejohn. The lawsuit alleged that Littlejohn, a government contractor at Booz Allen Hamilton, unlawfully acquired and revealed Trump’s tax returns to various publications.
In 2024, Littlejohn received a five-year prison sentence for the unauthorized disclosure of thousands of tax returns, including those of Trump and numerous other affluent individuals. Trump’s legal team contended that the IRS bears legal responsibility for Littlejohn’s actions, citing his “staff-like access to tax returns and confidential tax return information.” They argued that he took advantage of persistent security deficiencies that the IRS had been alerted to but failed to rectify. “The IRS erroneously permitted a politically-driven employee to disclose private and confidential information regarding President Trump, his family, and the Trump Organization to the New York Times, ProPublica, and other left-leaning news organizations, which was subsequently unlawfully disseminated to millions of individuals. President Trump remains committed to holding accountable those who have wronged America and its citizens,” stated Trump’s legal team.
Earlier this week, the Treasury Department severed its relationship with Booz Allen Hamilton, the previous employer of Littlejohn, announcing the cancellation of $21 million in federal contracts. A statement from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at the time identified Littlejohn as the rationale behind the decision, stating: “Booz Allen failed to implement adequate safeguards to protect sensitive data, including the confidential taxpayer information it had access to through its contracts with the Internal Revenue Service.”
Throughout Trump’s initial term, his decision to withhold his tax returns, thereby deviating from a longstanding convention among presidential candidates, emerged as a significant point of contention for his detractors. In 2022, the House Ways and Means Committee released six years of Trump’s tax returns following a legal battle over their disclosure that culminated in a Supreme Court decision.