Trump Prepares to Settle With IRS in Huge Lawsuit Over Tax Records

Donald Trump is in “discussions” to settle a $10 billion lawsuit with the Internal Revenue Service over the release of his tax returns.

The president’s lawyers asked a judge Friday to extend key deadlines on the multibillion lawsuit against his presidential administration, but hidden within the pages of the legal filing was a profound detail: that the president has been in talks with his own government staffers to “avoid protracted litigation.”

“Good cause exists to grant an extension in this matter while the Parties engage in discussions designed to resolve this matter and to avoid protracted litigation,” Trump’s lawyers argued. “This limited pause will neither prejudice the Parties nor delay ultimate resolution. Rather, the extension will promote judicial economy and allow the Parties to explore avenues that could narrow or resolve the issues efficiently.”

Any payment from Trump’s lawsuit against the government would be doled out to him via taxpayer funds.

The suit alleges that the IRS and Treasury Department during Trump’s first term did not do enough to thwart Charles Littlejohn, a former contractor for the IRS, from leaking the tax returns to the press. Littlejohn leaked 15 years of Trump’s tax returns to The New York Times in 2019. The documents were published by the paper of record the following year, in September 2020, two months before the presidential election.

Trump’s attorneys have argued that, despite the fact that Littlejohn was classed as a contractor, he acted as a “joint employee” of the two agencies. They further asserted that the government was liable for Littlejohn’s actions due to the IRS’s “extensive, detailed, day-to-day supervision” of his behavior.

The legal challenge has raised numerous ethical quandaries, chief among them the apparent conflict of interest in the case. Legal experts have questioned whether a president can sue his own administration to pocket taxpayer money, and have expressed doubts about whether Trump’s Justice Department can appropriately defend the financial institutions.

A group of former government officials filed an amicus brief in February that challenged the suit’s core claims. Those officials included former IRS Commissioner John Koskinen and former National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson. Together, the cohort argued that Trump’s lawsuit contains “significant legal flaws” and risks becoming “collusive litigation.”

This story has been updated.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tried to claim Friday that vaping is healthier than smoking.

Speaking before the House Education and Workforce Committee, Kennedy tried to peddle some of his classic pseudoscience.

“There’s an argument for vapes,” Kennedy said. “Vapes reduce cigarette tobacco smoking—”

“No sir. That was an argument Juul made, and I’d be happy to have a further conversation,” California Representative Mark DeSaulnier interrupted.

“I’d love to have that conversation,” Kennedy said.

The Centers for Disease Control’s own website states: “E-cigarette aerosol generally contains fewer harmful chemicals than the deadly mix of 7,000 chemicals in smoke from cigarettes. However, this does not make e-cigarettes safe.”

The vape company Juul illegally tried to market its electronic cigarettes as a safer alternative to smoking cigarettes, earning it a strong admonishment from the Food and Drug Administration in 2019—another of the many health agencies which Kennedy now oversees.

No federally reviewed vaping product has been found to be less harmful than cigarettes. Studies have shown that vapes and e-cigarettes are just as dangerous—if not more so—than traditional cigarettes, because they can increase the risk of heart disease and limit blood flow to the heart. They also still contain nicotine, which is highly addictive.

While vapes may be considered preferable to cigarettes for adult smokers, that’s not who uses them: Children are, on average, nine times more likely to vape than adults, according to the World Health Organization.

Amongst the upper echelons of the MAGA movement, Donald Trump’s word is God’s.

Paula White-Cain, a Pentecostal televangelist who has offered Trump spiritual guidance since 2002 and was appointed to run the new White House Faith Office last year, once said that “saying no to Trump would be saying no to God.”

Earlier this month, White-Cain compared Trump to Jesus at the White House’s Easter lunch, likening Trump’s various political scandals to Christ’s crucifixion.

“It almost cost you your life,” she said, feet away from Trump. “You were betrayed and arrested and falsely accused. It’s a familiar pattern that our lord and savior showed us. But it didn’t end there for him, and it didn’t end there for you.”

White-Cain’s sycophantic public commentary offers a brief glimpse into the rhetoric circulating around the president, and could possibly explain why Trump felt it appropriate to circulate an AI-generated picture of himself as the messiah earlier this week.

That act earned Trump nationwide backlash, driving a wedge between himself and many of his loyal supporters, who overwhelmingly condemned the blasphemous depiction. (The image features Trump dressed in white and red robes, encircled in light, holding light, and sharing it with the fallen.)

Several self-identified Trump voters interviewed by MS Now said that they were “disgusted” by and “ashamed” of the image, and further implied that they regretted voting for the self-identified Christian. (Reminder: while Trump has claimed the Bible is his “favorite book,” he couldn’t name a single passage from the text when prompted to do so in a 2019 interview.)

“Trump knows what he is doing. He knows what he posted,” former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on X Thursday after prominent evangelist Franklin Graham came to the president’s defense. “He knows how to manipulate his followers. And he’s not sorry, he never apologized. Instead he lied, and said he was a doctor, which is also absurd.”

A Franciscan friar that spoke with CBS News earlier this week said that “no one” should try to “put themselves in the person of Christ.”

“I think that’s a little bit of a problem,” he said.

White-Cain’s remarks could also explain the president’s attitude as he escalates a seemingly pointless feud with Pope Leo XIV, who apparently upset the administration by advocating for peace, not war.

As Trump’s base begins to turn on him, questions have arisen about Trump’s other political miracles. Several MAGA voters have recently begun to reexamine the 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in apparent suspicion that the ordeal was staged.

As Donald Trump’s MAGA base sours on him, some of them now think the 2024 assassination attempt on him in Butler, Pennsylvania, was staged.

Wired reports that this conspiracy theory started to take hold after Joe Kent, who resigned from the Trump administration over the Iran war, went on conservative pundit Tucker Carlson’s show and asserted without evidence that investigations into the shooting were halted before they were finished.

“If you don’t want to address that question, then you just go silent and say you can’t ask that question,” Kent, formerly the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said. “Which then creates people who come out of nowhere and they start drawing their own conclusions.”

Kent noted that this would fuel conspiracy theories, and ever since his interview, that is exactly what seems to be happening within MAGA. Trisha Hope, who served as a delegate from Texas during the 2024 Republican National Convention, posted on X last week that “if you cannot look at this story, and use critical thinking skills and have at least some questions, you are the problem and we need you to snap out of it.” 

“Since the attempt on his life, Trump has show [sic] no interest in investigating what really happened. He never mentions it, it’s as if it never happened, except when he tells us, he took a bullet for us,” Hope said in a long post.

Comedian Tim Dillon, who interviewed JD Vance on his podcast during Trump’s presidential campaign, said last week that he thinks “maybe it was staged,” adding that Trump should now say publicly that “some people are going to be upset by this, but we staged the assassination attempt in Butler to show people how important it was to vote for me and how far I was willing to go for them.”

Candace Owens, a far-right conspiracy theorist who has abandoned Trump, claimed on her podcast last week that Miriam Adelson, an Israeli-American billionaire and Republican donor, was actually behind the assassination attempt because Trump hadn’t followed through on a promise to allow Israel to annex the occupied West Bank.  

Ali Alexander, who helped pushed the “Stop the Steal” campaign around the conspiracy that Trump had the 2020 election stolen from him, wrote on Telegram Tuesday that the attempt on Trump’s life could mean he is in the Antichrist, echoing a different right-wing conspiracy theory pushed by Tucker Carlson and others.   

“To be clear: if Donald Trump didn’t receive a miracle, then it was deception or a dark sign,” Alexander wrote. “There is biblical prophecy in Revelation 13:3 apparently about the Antichrist being struck on the head.”

Cracks are beginning to show in Trump’s support base following his decision to break a major campaign promise and start a war with Iran, attack the Catholic Church, and imply that he’s Jesus Christ. All of this could be the beginning of the end of his political career and control of the Republican Party. 

A Trump-appointed federal judge handed down another loss to the Justice Department on Friday, striking down the department’s demand for personal voter information in Rhode Island. 

U.S. District Judge Mary S. McElroy said the DOJ lacked the authority “to conduct the kind of fishing expedition it seeks here.”

“In its September 8, 2025, letter to Secretary Amore (the ‘Demand Letter’), DOJ stated that the purpose of its demand for an unredacted copy of Rhode Island’s statewide voter registration list was ‘to ascertain Rhode Island’s compliance with the list maintenance requirements of the [National Voter Registration Act] and the [Help America Vote Act],’” McElroy wrote in her dismissal of the DOJ lawsuit. “The Demand Letter did not identify any facts suggesting that Rhode Island has not complied with the NVRA and HAVA, and it did not otherwise expressly identify any factual basis for DOJ’s demand.”

The DOJ initially filed the lawsuit as part of its effort to continue Trump’s immigration crackdown and weaponize voter registration information in deep-blue states. But now Rhode Island has become the fifth state—along with California, Michigan, Massachusetts, and Orgeon—to reject Trump’s meddling. 

“Neither the NVRA nor HAVA authorize DOJ to conduct the kind of fishing expedition it seeks here,” McElroy concluded. “As such, for the foregoing reasons, the Court DENIES the United States’ Motion to Compel Production and GRANTS Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss.”  

That leaves Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon with zero wins and five losses on her voting records lawsuits, with 25 states still waiting on decisions. 

Iran reopened the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, marking the end of a multi-week trade embargo that massively exacerbated oil and gas costs around the globe.

Donald Trump, however, was not happy.

The president went on a social media bender as the news came in, complaining that he had not received enough credit for his handling of the war (that he started) while optimistically suggesting that the war was already over, despite lacking a concrete peace deal.

“The Failing New York Times, FAKE NEWS CNN, and others, just don’t know what to do,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “They are desperately looking for a reason to criticize President Donald J. Trump on the Iran situation, but just can’t find it. Why don’t they just say, at the right time, JOB WELL DONE, MR. PRESIDENT, and start to gain back their credibility???”

In a series of posts, Trump incorrectly referred to the vital waterway as the “STRAIT OF IRAN,” and declared that the U.S. blockade on the strait would “REMAIN IN FULL FORCE AND EFFECT AS IT PERTAINS TO IRAN, ONLY, UNTIL SUCH TIME AS OUR TRANSACTION WITH IRAN IS 100% COMPLETE.”

“Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again,” Trump declared in a separate post. “It will no longer be used as a weapon against the World!”

Trump thanked Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar for their involvement in the peace negotiations, and stated that while any potential peace deal will not pertain to Lebanon, he would eventually “MAKE LEBANON GREAT AGAIN.” At the same time, the president slammed America’s NATO allies, claiming in a separate post that the coalition had called to offer help in the region in the wake of the strait’s reopening.

“I TOLD THEM TO STAY AWAY, UNLESS THEY JUST WANT TO LOAD UP THEIR SHIPS WITH OIL. They were useless when needed, a Paper Tiger!” Trump said.

Earlier this week, France and the U.K. agreed to cohost a summit with more than 40 nations to “restore freedom of navigation” along the waterway. Its results, however, were dependent on a peace deal, according to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The war in Iran has thrust the entire world into an energy crisis, spiking oil and gas prices, stalling movement, and tanking economies. At the time of publication, Brent crude—a global oil benchmark—had dropped to around $89 per barrel. Last month, the cost reached a high of $108 per barrel—a dramatic increase from before the war started in late February, when Brent crude cost around $65 a barrel.

It is not clear exactly what the war in Iran has accomplished. Together, the U.S. and Israel have killed thousands of Iranian civilians and obliterated Iranian civilian infrastructure. Meanwhile, 13 U.S. soldiers have died. The war also spiked the cost of living for people around the world, agitated international relations—particularly between the U.S. and longtime allies in the Western hemisphere—cost American taxpayers over $50 billion, and sparked a political rejection of MAGA ideology across the U.S.

Trump has previously stated that his primary objective in the war was to erase Iran’s nuclear capabilities—but his administration’s battle assessments have stood in contrast to other attacks they boasted about as recently as last year.

Prior to the war—which never obtained congressional approval—Trump ordered strikes on three of Iran’s nuclear sites, hitting Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan on June 22, 2025. At the time, the Trump administration claimed that the one-off air raid had set Iran’s program back by “years.”

U.S. soldiers stationed in the Middle East are getting fed mystery meat and single tortillas because of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and Lebanon.

The Military Postal Service Agency and USPS have indefinitely suspended all mail to U.S. warships and zip codes in the Middle East. Family members of two service members—one aboard the USS Tripoli and another aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln—shared photos with USA Today showing what that suspension was forcing them to eat while warring on Iran—even as their families sent them packages filled with homemade desserts, candy, and clothes.

One image shows a single dreary tortilla alongside a lump of what looks to be pulled pork or chicken. The other shows two horrid-looking slabs of meat alongside a pile of sliced carrots.

And the food is starting to run low. Dan F., a former Marine whose daughter is serving aboard the USS Tripoli, told USA Today that his daughter reported no fresh produce, low stock of hygiene products, and rationing of all non-perishable food.

“The food is tasteless and there’s not nearly enough and they’re hungry all the time,” said Karen Erskine-Valentine of West Virginia, a pastor whose congregation member has a son on the USS Abraham Lincoln. “That kind of breaks your heart.”

“We have the strongest military in the world. You shouldn’t be running out of food, and you shouldn’t not be able to get mail on the ship,” Dan F. said. “The one thing we had over our adversaries [was] we fed our people.”

USPS and the Military Postal Service Agency announced the suspension earlier this month due to “airspace closures and other logistical impacts from the ongoing conflict,” according to Army spokesperson Major Travis Shaw. “Resumption of mail service is contingent upon the reopening of airspace by civil authorities, and the area commander’s evaluation of regional transportation and distribution stability.”

Donald Trump doesn’t want anyone to think that he’s giving Iran money.

The president posted on his Truth Social account Friday about a plan to end the war between the U.S. and Iran, and stressed that “no money will exchange hands in any way, shape, or form.”

That’s despite a report from Axios that the U.S. is considering releasing $20 billion in frozen Iranian assets in exchange for the country’s stockpile of enriched uranium.

The report states that the two countries are discussing a three-page plan, and could send negotiators to Pakistan this weekend to try and finalize it. Iran reportedly has close to 2,000 kilograms of enriched uranium buried in underground nuclear facilities. The talks concern what specifically will happen to the uranium, and how many Iranian assets will be unfrozen.

In earlier discussions, the U.S. was willing to release $6 billion to Iran for humanitarian relief, while the Iranians wanted $27 billion, according to Axios. The White House also wanted Iran to send its uranium to the U.S., while Iran sought to instead lower its enrichment through a process called downblending. Now, the two sides are considering a compromise in which some uranium would be sent to a third country while the rest would be downblended with international supervision.

If the U.S. does agree to release Iranian assets, Trump would be in effect doing what he and other Republicans criticized former President Barack Obama for: unfreezing Iranian money as part of an international agreement. As part of the nuclear deal Obama reached with Iran during his presidency, the U.S. lifted sanctions that froze Iranian government funds held in foreign banks and sent $1.7 billion to settle decades-old failed contracts between the two countries.

Back then, Trump and other Republicans made unfounded and fantastical claims that the U.S. was bribing Iran because the country was releasing American prisoners at the same time. If Iranian assets end up being unfrozen now, Trump and the GOP will make all kinds of excuses about how it’s different this time.

Donald Trump had several gripes while speaking at his “no tax on tips” event in Las Vegas Thursday evening. Yet in an incredible mental lapse, one of Trump’s points of frustration was about who the president was in 2025.

“A year ago, our country was an embarrassment,” Trump said. “All over the world, they laughed at us. And they don’t laugh anymore, they are not laughing.”

It’s just the latest indication that something could be seriously wrong with the president’s brain. Over the first year and change of his second term, Trump’s speeches have become more disjointed and incoherent, and his behavior has grown increasingly erratic, sparking concerns across the country about his health and aptitude for the country’s biggest job.

Just last week, Trump attacked several of his longest allies, claimed via a social media post that he would completely annihilate Iranian civilization, and started beef with Pope Leo XIV, claiming that the Catholic pontiff was “weak on crime.”

This week, Trump forgot when Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, and that one of his most fervent GOP critics—North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis—is still in the Senate. Trump also opted to go to a UFC tournament instead of overseeing his administration’s peace talks with Iran, and DoorDashed McDonalds to the Oval Office in a PR stunt that even he retroactively admitted was “tacky.”

HIs behavior has elicited a cultural shift on the ideological left and right. A group of MAGA thought leaders—including Alex Jones, Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, and Megyn Kelly—have denounced Trump’s recent behavior as it relates to the war in Iran, as well as his mass disavowal of his own political acolytes.

Liberal lawmakers, meanwhile, have invoked the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to formally challenge Trump’s mental acuity. Fifty House Democrats filed legislation on Wednesday to create a commission that could shove Trump out of power and install Vice President JD Vance as his replacement.

Other Democrats have called for the president to have his brain tested by the end of the month. House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin last week demanded that Trump undergo another cognitive test by April 25, citing Trump’s escalating aggression toward Iran.

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are investigating Jared Kushner over conflicts of interest between his business activities and his work as a peace negotiator for the Trump administration.

Representative Jamie Raskin, the ranking member of the committee, sent a letter to Kushner arguing his job managing the private equity firm Affinity Partners and his diplomatic work for the president—who happens to be his father-in-law—have “been haunting American foreign policy since President Trump returned to Washington in 2025.”

“You cannot both be a diplomat and a financial pawn of the Saudi monarchy at the same time; you cannot faithfully represent the United States with billions of dollars in Saudi and Emirati cash burning a hole in every pocket of every suit you own,” Raskin wrote, referring to Affinity Partners’s extensive investments from “Saudi Arabia and other Gulf oil autocracies.”

“Your clients Saudi Arabia and the Royal Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman have unique and significant strategic, economic and political interests that are certain to diverge sharply from the strategic, economic and political interests of the American people,” Raskin’s letter states.

“When you approach negotiations related to the catastrophic Iran War, the prospect of prolonged military conflict there, the rights of women and religious minorities in the Middle East or the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, are you representing 100% the interests of your business partners in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf oil autocracies or are you representing 100% the interests of the American people?”

Kushner secured $2 billion in funding for his firm from the Saudi Public Investment Fund six months after Trump’s first term ended. The firm is also bankrolled by Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. At the same time, he has served as a negotiator between Ukraine and Russia and in U.S.-Iran talks, while also being involved in Trump’s “Board of Peace” in Gaza. Still, Kushner has no official government position, which means he can claim that he isn’t subject to legal requirements about his financial interests.

In his letter, Raskin requested extensive records from Kushner, including his business dealings, his communications on behalf of the Trump administration, corporate information about his investment firm, and communications with foreign governments. Kushner is not likely to comply, especially considering that Democrats don’t have control of Congress. But come November, that could change, giving Raskin and other Democrats stronger investigative and subpoena powers.