Overview
- Conservative writer Mona Charen calls President Donald Trump’s IRS lawsuit a “gargantuan shakedown,” arguing the public is losing patience with his conduct as living costs rise.
- Trump, his sons, and the Trump Organization seek $10 billion over leaked tax return details, saying the disclosures caused reputational and financial harm and public embarrassment.
- The leak traced to an IRS contractor who shared Trump’s tax information, which set off the dispute that now underpins the family’s sweeping damages claim.
- Judge Kathleen Williams flagged a threshold problem, noting Trump is both the plaintiff and the boss of the agencies he sued, which raises questions under the Constitution’s requirement for a real dispute between two sides.
- Charen highlights the extraordinary scale of the demand, saying it equals about two-thirds of the IRS’s annual budget and far exceeds typical payouts under the Federal Tort Claims Act, the law that lets people sue the federal government.