Former IRS officials urge judge to void Trump audit immunity

A group of former Internal Revenue Service and Department of Justice officials has asked a federal judge to invalidate a settlement provision granting President Donald Trump and his family immunity from past tax audits, calling the arrangement unlawful and "breathtakingly improper," according to ABC News.

Submitted Monday to U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, the amicus brief contended that the audit immunity provision runs afoul of both the Domestic Emoluments Clause and tax code provisions aimed at keeping officials from meddling in audits. Among those joining the brief were a former national taxpayer advocate, a former IRS commissioner, a former assistant attorney general, and someone who previously led the Justice Department's tax division, according to ABC News.

"The President of the United States is obligated to pay taxes he owes, just like every other American," the group wrote in the brief. "If the Immunity Order is allowed to stand, it will enshrine two separate tax codes, one for President Trump, his family, and his 'affiliates,' and another for every other American."

The immunity provision emerged from a deal settling Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax documents. A separate addendum signed by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche declared that the government is "forever barred and precluded" from pursuing examinations of Trump, family members, or affiliated entities related to any pending or potentially pending tax matters, according to ABC News.

On the question of authority, the former officials contended that Blanche had no legal basis to settle the audit matters, given that none of them had ever been sent to the Justice Department for possible criminal referral. The case had been reopened last month by Judge Williams after a contingent of over 35 retired federal judges filed arguments claiming the settlement amounted to a judicial fraud, according to CNN.

Attorneys for President Trump and his two eldest sons argued in an earlier filing that the court has no authority to examine the settlement. "Movants should be above making what is a transparently political filing intended to gin up press attention to a fully proper government settlement that they knowingly have no standing to challenge," the attorneys wrote, according to ABC News.

Even as the administration walked away from the $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" amid bipartisan backlash, the audit immunity provision that accompanied the settlement was left untouched, according to USA Today. According to USA Today, had the audits been completed, Trump faced a potential tax liability that the New York Times estimated at more than $100 million.

Former IRS officials ask judge to void Trump tax audit immunity deal

An amicus brief filed Monday argues the agreement is unlawful and would create 2 separate tax codes for Americans

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