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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed an agreement Tuesday barring the federal government from pursuing audits, monetary claims or other tax-related actions against President Donald Trump, his family members and affiliated businesses over existing matters, dramatically expanding the scope of the administration’s controversial settlement with the IRS.
The one-page addendum, attached to Monday’s broader settlement agreement establishing a nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” compensation fund, states that the U.S. government is “FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED” from pursuing “any and all claims” that “have been or could have been” asserted by the IRS against Trump, his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, their businesses, or other family entities.
The agreement also blocks the government from seeking monetary damages or other relief tied to “any matters currently pending or that could be pending” before the IRS or “other agencies or departments,” including tax returns filed before May 18, the settlement’s effective date.
The addendum does not specify which other federal agencies are covered.
A Justice Department spokesperson said the agreement applies “only with respect to existing audits, not future” matters.
The deal comes after the Justice Department announced Monday that Trump and his co-plaintiffs would drop their $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS and Treasury Department over the leak of his tax returns. The broader settlement also resolves claims connected to the 2022 FBI search of Mar-a-Lago and investigations related to alleged Russian collusion during Trump’s first term.
In exchange, the administration established the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, which officials described as a process “to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare.”
Critics have condemned the arrangement as an unprecedented use of taxpayer dollars and a potential vehicle for funneling money to Trump allies and supporters.
The settlement and its addendum were finalized ahead of a court-imposed deadline requiring the administration to explain how Trump’s lawsuit against agencies he oversees could proceed given his control over the Justice Department.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. Williams had previously raised concerns about whether Trump and the federal agencies he sued were genuinely adverse parties. On Monday, after Trump’s legal team moved to dismiss the case, Williams formally closed the matter.
Rep. Richard Neal, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, blasted the agreement Tuesday.
“Trump has turned the federal government into his personal protection racket,” Neal said in a statement.
“This settlement is corruption in the plainest sight: forcing IRS to abandon every audit, past and present, into Trump, his family, and their businesses while steering $1.8 billion in taxpayer dollars toward his friends, cronies, and Trump-affiliated companies is self-dealing at its most grotesque,” he added.
“It’s a dark, dark day for our democracy.”
