Richard Rubin, C. Ryan Barber, and Annie Linskey, “Trump Lawsuit Against IRS Puts Him on Both Sides of the Same Case,” Wall Street Journal (Feb. 1, 2026):
President Trump’s lawsuit against the government that he runs presents a mind-bending minefield of conflicts that could end with the president’s appointees approving a federal payout to him.
Trump is simultaneously supervising the private attorneys demanding at least $10 billion in damages over the past disclosure of his tax records, while also overseeing the senior Justice Department attorneys with authority to settle the case and authorize a payment.
The unusual dynamics are intensified by Trump’s expansive view of executive authority and his history of leveraging the presidency’s unique powers to secure settlements from private parties, said Peter Keisler, who served as acting attorney general in the George W. Bush administration.
“This creates the risk of the most collusive lawsuit of all time, because it is ultimately the president suing a defendant whom he says has to do whatever he directs,” Keisler said.
Trump, two of his sons and his businesses sued the government in federal court in Miami on Thursday, arguing that they were harmed when former IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn illegally disclosed their tax information to the New York Times and ProPublica in 2019 and 2020.
