by
Andrew
Harnik/Getty
Images)
Donald
Trump’s
whizbang
libelslander
lawyer
Alejandro
Brito
has
done
it
again!
This
time
the
president
is
suing
the
IRS
for
$10
billion.
It’s
like
suing
himself
—
only
US
taxpayers
have
to
pay
the
bill.
The
case
involves
the
unlawful
release
of
Trump’s
tax
returns
in
2020
by
Charles
Littlejohn,
an
IRS
contractor
employed
by
Booz
Allen
Hamilton.
Littlejohn
stole
hundreds
of
thousands
of
tax
documents
and
leaked
them
to
news
outlets
like
ProPublica,
which
published
articles
highlighting
the
paltry
sums
the
ultra-wealthy
contribute
to
the
common
wealth.
Littlejohn
pled
guilty
in
2023
and
was
sentenced
to
five
years
in
prison.
In
September
of
2020,
the
New
York
Times
published
a
series
of
explosive
stories
on
Trump’s
tax
returns
that
highlighted
how
little
he
paid
in
taxes,
thanks
to
write-offs
and
carried
losses.
Trump,
along
with
his
eldest
sons
and
the
family
business,
claim
that
these
disclosures
“incurred
substantial
financial
and
other
damages,
including
having
to
defend
against
a
meritless
civil
suit
brought
by
the
New
York
Attorney
General
based
on
wrongful
interpretation
of
unauthorized
disclosures
of
their
confidential
tax
returns
and
related
tax
information.”
And
so
they
demand
recompense
under
the
Privacy
Act
and
26
U.S.
Code
§
7431.
The
case
is
modeled
on
a
similar
suit
filed
in
2022
by
Ken
Griffin,
the
CEO
of
Citadel,
who
was
represented
by
Quinn
Emanuel,
and
so
it
hews
more
closely
to
the
norms
of
pleading
than
Brito’s
regular
offerings.
And
yet
there
may
be
one
or
two
teensy
tiny
problems
with
Trump’s
latest
complaint.
Like,
say,
the
statute
of
limitations
which
expires
two
years
after
the
discovery
of
the
disclosure.
Trump
says
that
the
first
he
heard
of
it
was
January
of
2024
when
the
Treasury
sent
him
a
letter
informing
him
of
Littlejohn’s
sentencing.
This
is
somewhat
undercut
by
the
numerous
articles
published
in
2020
which
“wrongly
and
specifically
alleged
various
improprieties
related
to
Plaintiffs’
financial
records
and
taxpayer
history”
cited
in
this
very
complaint
as
evidence
of
damages.
Trump
also
cites
articles
based
on
the
2022
disclosure
of
his
tax
returns
by
the
House
Ways
and
Mean
Committee,
’cause
YOLO.
Then
there’s
the
theory
of
liability
based
on
the
IRS’s
failure
to
adequately
supervise
its
contractors.
Trump
crows
that
Griffin’s
suit
survived
a
motion
to
dismiss
because
Judge
Robert
Scola
said
there
was
a
live
dispute
as
to
whether
the
IRS
was
responsible
for
Littlejohn’s
crimes.
But
if
Littlejohn
was
functionally
IRS
employee
in
2020,
then
his
boss
was
the
plaintiff
himself
…
which
may
complicate
matters.
And
then
there’s
the
question
of
damages.
Trump
spent
ten
years
saying
he’d
be
“proud”
to
release
his
tax
returns.
“I
have
big
returns,
as
you
know,
and
I
have
everything
all
approved
and
very
beautiful
and
we’ll
be
working
that
over
in
the
next
period
of
time,”
he
said
on
Meet
the
Press
in
January
of
2016.
Now
he
says
the
publication
of
true
information
he
vowed
continually
to
release
himself
“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”
to
the
tune
of
$10
billion.
In
any
event,
Griffin
did
not
win
his
lawsuit.
His
Privacy
Act
claim
was
dismissed
for
failure
to
allege
any
actual
damages,
and
he
settled
in
2024
for
zero
dollars
and
a
public
apology.
But,
of
course,
Trump
has
something
Griffin
didn’t:
He
controls
the
entire
apparatus
of
the
federal
government
and
can
just
order
the
Treasury
to
loot
the
public
fisc
for
his
own
benefit.
Indeed,
he’s
already
ordered
it
to
pay
him
$230
million
for
the
“illegal”
raid
on
Mar-a-Lago.
Funny,
he
doesn’t
want
to
answer
questions
about
this
very
legit
litigation!
To
the
extent
that
it
matters,
the
case
has
been
assigned
to
Judge
Kathleen
Williams,
an
Obama
appointee.
Stipulated
settlement
in
3…2…
Liz
Dye produces
the
Law
and
Chaos Substack and podcast. You
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