Trump’s recent deal with the Internal Revenue Service was by far the most flagrant act of corruption yet
– perhaps in US presidential history.
First, he sued the agency for $10bn for its alleged negligence in guarding his and his companies’ tax returns from being leaked to the press.
Then he dropped the suit in return for a $1.776bn slush fund to repay his friends, possibly including the January 6 insurrectionists, for the suffering inflicted by their criminal penalties.
And, like a mafia enforcer shooting his victim in the knees after extracting the cash, Trump took a little more.
A memo from Todd Blanche, his former personal lawyer and the acting attorney general, waives all pending liabilities incurred by his client,
including $100m in potential tax penalties,
and bars all future actions against Trump or his companies by the IRS
“or other agencies or departments”.
In 2024, the supreme court granted the president “presumptive immunity” from criminal prosecution for actions taken as part of his executive duties while in office.
Anna Bower and Eric Columbus, of Lawfare, suggest that this agreement could give him immunity from everything else, forever.
