Overview
- Senators Ron Wyden and Chuck Schumer introduced the Stop Presidential Embezzlement Act on Feb. 11, with Ben Ray Luján and Peter Welch as cosponsors.
- The measure would tax at 100 percent any settlement or judgment paid by the federal government to a sitting president, vice president, cabinet member, or member of Congress from lawsuits filed while in office.
- The bill follows President Trump’s roughly $10 billion suit against the IRS and Treasury, filed with his sons and the Trump Organization over disclosures of his confidential tax data.
- Former federal officials warned in an amicus brief that the case poses a conflict of interest because the president leads the executive branch that must defend the government.
- Trump’s filing cites the theft of his returns by ex-IRS contractor Charles “Chaz” Littlejohn, who pleaded guilty in 2023 and received a five-year sentence in 2024 after the data was provided to The New York Times and ProPublica.