IRS workers group joins Jan. 6 ‘slush fund’ suit, seeking to block Trump audit carve-out
An organization representing career Internal Revenue Service employees has joined a lawsuit over the contentious settlement reached in connection with President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS, challenging a carve-out that would give him and members of his family immunity from certain tax audits.
A Jan. 6 prosecutor fired by the Trump administration and others previously sued to block a fund that could have gone to Trump allies who said they were victims of weaponization, potentially including Jan. 6 rioters. A federal judge then temporarily blocked the fund from moving forward in May.
Now, an amended version of the lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of Virginia on Thursday afternoon alleges that the IRS audit immunity that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche agreed to for Trump and his family members in connection with the purported settlement is unlawful and unconstitutional. The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents career IRS auditors, has joined the litigation.
The order would provide the president “and his relatives and affiliates with a lucrative benefit not available to any other Americans,” the lawsuit argued.
The lawsuit describes the purported settlement as “an unprecedented, unlawful, and breathtakingly corrupt attempt by the President and members of his cabinet to manipulate the legal process and laws intended to prevent political interference to achieve benefits that President Trump and his political allies could not have obtained lawfully.” [Continue reading…]