President Donald Trump is suing the IRS and the Treasury Department for $10 billion, alleging they failed to take necessary steps to prevent a former IRS employee from improperly disclosing his tax returns, and those of his sons and his company, to news outlets.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday at a federal courthouse in Miami, says Trump is suing in his personal capacity, not as president. The other plaintiffs include two of Trump’s sons — Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump — and the Trump Organization.
"Defendants have 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," the complaint says.
The Treasury and IRS did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday night.
A former IRS contractor, Charles Littlejohn, was sentenced to five years in prison in 2024 after he pleaded guilty the year before to leaking Trump’s tax records to The New York Times. The Times published exclusive reporting in 2020 that showed Trump had paid only $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017.
Trump at the time called the Times' story "totally fake news" and "made up." He added that the information had been "illegally obtained."
Littlejohn admitted in federal court that he also stole tax records of thousands of other wealthy people in 2019 and 2020, including billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.
The IRS issued a statement in 2024 calling Littlejohn's actions "unacceptable" and added that it had sent a statement to affected taxpayers.
"It bears noting that the IRS has taken aggressive action more generally to enhance data security — to ensure, to the fullest extent feasible, that nothing like the Littlejohn incident can happen in the future," the statement said.
Trump, who will now face off in court with his own administration, told reporters last year that he was seeking "a lot of money" in compensation from the federal government, based on past investigations into him by the Justice Department. The New York Times reported in October that Trump was seeking $230 million in damages from the Justice Department. Asked about the figure at the time, Trump told reporters, "It could be."
Trump added in October that he would be the one to approve the payout and said, "It's awfully strange to make a decision where I'm paying myself." He said at the time that he would give the money away to charities or "to the White House while we restore the White House."
The White House and the Trump Organization did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday night on the IRS lawsuit or what Trump plans to do with the money if damages are awarded.
Since he returned to office, Trump has filed numerous lawsuits, often for $10 billion. He sued the BBC last year for that amount, claiming defamation over edits to a clip of his speech on Jan. 6, 2021. The BBC said it would fight the suit and sought to get it dismissed this month.
In July, Trump sued The Wall Street Journal and its parent company’s owner, Rupert Murdoch, for $10 billion, over the paper’s reporting into a crude drawing Trump was alleged to have sent Jeffrey Epstein in 2003. A Dow Jones spokesperson defended the reporting at the time, saying the company would “vigorously defend” against a lawsuit.
Other Trump lawsuits include suits against JPMorgan Chase and its CEO, Jamie Dimon, for $5 billion, claiming the bank improperly closed his accounts for political reasons. He also sued The New York Times and three of its reporters for defamation over coverage of his 2024 campaign, seeking $15 billion.
Both JPMorgan and the Times said the lawsuits had no merit.
