Trump's IRS lawsuit is best shakedown in presidential history: Who was president at the time of the leaked data

[riversedge]

Trump's IRS lawsuit is best shakedown in presidential history | Opinion

Who was president at the time of the leaked data? Trump. Who appointed the chief of the IRS? Trump. And who deserves $10 billion because of alleged federal misconduct under his watch? Trump.

James Bovard Opinion contributor

May 1, 2026, 6:05 a.m. ET

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trumps-irs-lawsuit-best-shakedown-100554091.html?fr=yhssrp_catchall




President Donald Trump is suing the Internal Revenue Service to force the American people to pay him at least $10 billion in damages because he was embarrassed when his tax returns leaked out in 2020.
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The lawsuit asserts that the leaked tax returns caused Trump and his sons “public embarrassment, unfairly tarnished their business reputations, portrayed them in a false light, and negatively affected President Trump, and the other Plaintiffs’ public standing.”

Almost all presidents voluntarily disclose their tax returns. From 2014 onward, Trump often promised to disclose his tax returns if he ran for the presidency, but he never released them.

When the returns finally leaked out just before the 2020 election, many Americans were appalled. In 2016 and 2017, Trump paid only $750 in federal income taxes each year and “paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years.”

However, according to Trump, the real outrage is that other Americans finally learned the president paid far less taxes than they did..........................