Trump’s $10 billion corruption scheme demands he be criminally prosecuted!

We need action!!

May 14, 2026

It’s not enough to simply highlight Donald Trump’s corruption--like his new $10 billion lawsuit scam to grab our tax dollars. We must demand Trump and all involved be criminally prosecuted. And we need Democratic officials to do that in the media. To be effective, our focus can’t just be outrage—it must be demanding action!

With that said, Trump’s latest scam is his most brazen. This is not a situation where he is corruptly selling pardons to wealthy donors or helping foreign governments that invest in his family’s crypto business. That type of corruption is why Trump has increased his wealth by $4 billion in his second term.

Those are all criminal and unlike anything we’ve seen in terms of scale from an American President. But what makes Trump’s latest scam so egregious is that he is seeking to grab $10 billion of our tax dollars. And I’m not exaggerating.

In January, Trump filed a lawsuit against the very government he heads seeking $10 billion in damages. What is the basis of the lawsuit? Well, a contractor doing work for the I.R.S. had released his tax returns--along with other wealthy individuals--to two media outlets in 2020. That contractor, Charles Littlejohn, did plead guilty to doing this in violation of federal law and was sentenced to five years in prison.

Trump is now claiming that the release of these tax returns in 2020 to the media caused him to suffer damages in excess of $10 billion. However, a few things this make this case nothing more than a “shakedown” --as Rep. Joe Negeuse correctly dubbed it.

First and foremost, Trump didn’t file this lawsuit when the leak happened--or the entire time four years Biden was president. Instead, he waited until he was President so that the people he personally appointed at the I.R.S. and DOJ would handle the case and of course agree to pay him a huge settlement.

In fact, other wealthy people did sue the federal government years ago over this leak such as hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin. But that case was settled in 2024, and the government did not pay Griffin any damages. Instead, the I.R.S. made a public apology for the leak.

Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit is so obviously corrupt that the trial judge presiding over it raised red flags a few weeks ago about what appears to be nothing more than self-dealing. U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Williams asked Trump’s private attorneys and Justice Department lawyers representing the IRS to address whether his control over the government’s actions in the case means the case is a sham.

Judge Williams put it this way, “Although President Trump avers that he is bringing this lawsuit in his personal capacity, he is the sitting president and his named adversaries are entities whose decisions are subject to his direction.” She continued, “It is unclear to this Court whether the parties are sufficiently adverse to each other so as to satisfy [the Constitution’s] case or controversy requirement.”

What the judge is getting at is that a person cannot sue themselves or entity they fully control because it’s not a “case or controversy.” As the judge wrote: “The existence of a case or controversy is a “bedrock requirement” of our jurisdiction.” She added, “There must be an honest and actual antagonistic assertion of rights by one individual against another, which is neither feigned nor collusive.”

Williams also pointed to Trump’s attempts to consolidate his power over the executive branch through executive orders which ties the hands of the DOJ to robustly litigate the case. The judge noted that one such order Trump signed last year in essence forbids government employees acting in their official capacity from advancing legal positions at odds with legal positions staked out by Donald Trump. Williams wrote, “This raises questions here over whether the Parties here are truly antagonistic to each other.”

Bottom line is the courts won’t be used as a vehicle to commit fraud. As a result, the judge gave Trump’s lawyers and the lawyers from Trump’s DOJ until May 20 to file briefs on this issue. That is why--per the NY Times reporting on Tuesday--there is a mad rush by Trump to settle the case before the May 20 deadline. Trump wants the DOJ to agree to pay him millions or billions of our tax dollars simply because he can!

Just so it’s clear, former government lawyers and experts see a clear defense to Trump’s suit and do not see it as one the Justice Department would typically settle on its merits. But when Trump is the boss and he wants money, they must deliver or be fired. If this is not corrupt and criminal, then nothing is!

From a legal point of view, what are the actual damages Trump suffered from the release of the past tax returns in 2020—if any? As a reminder in late 2022, House Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee released six years of Trump’s tax returns after a yearslong legal fight. That means the returns were out in the public years ago.

Appallingly, this isn’t the first time Trump has tried to use the Justice Department to profit. Trump is also seeking $230 million in damages from the Justice Department over the time federal agents seized classified documents he’d unlawfully brought to Mar-a-Lago and an earlier probe into his campaign’s ties to Russia.

Trump has even bragged about these claims telling the audience in December at a rally in North Carolina: “You know, I brought a lawsuit, and I’m winning the lawsuit. There’s only one problem. I’m the one who has to settle it.” He added, “In other words, I am suing, and I’m the one that’s supposed to settle it.”

All of this makes me want to literally throw up and throw something against the wall. But outrage and projectile vomiting won’t change anything.

We need to demand prosecutions of Trump for this potential crime and others. Just so it’s clear, the immunity given to Trump by the GOP Supreme Court only extends to actions grounded in his powers as a President as laid out in the Constitution. In other words, “official acts.” The immunity does not extend to private conduct—like stealing from taxpayers or pressuring the government to pay him money for bogus claims.

Democratic lawmakers led by Senator Elizabeth Warren have already introduced a bill to prevent the President, the Vice President, and their families from collecting settlement money from the government. But that is not enough. We need Democrats to loudly and repeatedly call for prosecuting Trump—and all involved including DOJ officials. Tell them to retain their papers, retain a lawyer, etc. Perhaps that might make the DOJ officials think twice before paying Trump!

I discussed this very issue with our favorite former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner. I hope you check out because Glenn also served up a much-needed pep talk for all of us: