Trump Seeks 90-Day Pause to Negotiate $10 Billion IRS Tax Leak Lawsuit Settlement

President Donald Trump and his family are seeking a “resolution” of their $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and federal court filings show lawyers for Trump are asking for a pause so the parties can negotiate a settlement with the Department of Justice.

“Trump sued the IRS over the public disclosure of his tax information in 2019”

ABC30 Fresno

Multiple outlets describe how the request centers on a 90-day extension of a government deadline, with Trump’s lawyers arguing that “This limited pause will neither prejudice the parties nor delay ultimate resolution,” and that “Rather, the extension will promote judicial economy and allow the Parties to explore avenues that could narrow or resolve the issues efficiently.”

ABC30 Fresno

The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times both say federal agencies are engaging in discussions to resolve the lawsuit, and the Los Angeles Times reports that Trump’s lawyers are negotiating a potential settlement while the Justice Department struggles to respond to the case.

The AP similarly frames the development as talks between Trump’s lawyers and the IRS to resolve the $10 billion suit over the leak of Trump’s tax information to news outlets between 2018 and 2020.

In the same filing described by AP, Trump asks a judge to pause the case for 90 days while “the two sides work to reach a settlement or resolution.”

The New York Times adds that the Justice Department “has yet to respond” and that Trump’s lawyers asked for the 90-day extension rather than the Justice Department requesting more time.

Across the reporting, the central procedural move is the same: a court-ordered pause to allow negotiations to proceed without protracted litigation.

The lawsuit’s origins trace to a leak of Trump’s tax information that began during his first term and was tied to a former IRS contractor, Charles Edward Littlejohn, who worked for Booz Allen Hamilton.

The Al Jazeera report describes how the case stems from an incident that began in 2017, when a worker named Charles “Chaz” Littlejohn was re-hired as a contractor through the government consulting firm Booz Allen, and it says that while working on IRS files, Littlejohn stole copies of Trump’s tax returns.

Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera also says that until Trump, every president since Richard Nixon had released their tax returns as a gesture of transparency, while Trump claimed he could not, citing ongoing audits.

The reporting connects the stolen returns to later publication by The New York Times and ProPublica, with Al Jazeera stating that in 2020, The New York Times released a series of articles showing Trump paid no income taxes in 10 of the 15 preceding years.

The Los Angeles Times and AP both describe the same contractor and timeline, saying Littlejohn was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to leaking tax information about President Trump and others to two news outlets between 2018 and 2020.

AP specifies that the outlets were not named in the charging documents, but that the description and time frame align with stories about Trump’s tax returns in The New York Times and reporting about wealthy Americans’ taxes in ProPublica.

The New York Times adds that Trump’s suit argues that the IRS and Treasury Department did not do enough to prevent Charles Littlejohn from providing Trump’s tax information to The Times and ProPublica.

Trump’s lawsuit seeks $10 billion in damages and is framed by the president and his lawyers as harm caused by the leak of confidential tax information, while critics and watchdog groups argue the case creates a conflict of interest because the president controls both sides of the litigation.

“Trump’s lawyers are in talks with the IRS to resolve president’s $10B lawsuit Trump’s lawyers are in talks with the IRS to resolve president’s $10B lawsuit WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for President Donald Trump are engaged in talks with the IRS to resolve a $10 billion lawsuit the president filed against his own tax collection agency over the leak of his tax information to news outlets between 2018 and 2020”

AP News

The Los Angeles Times reports that Trump filed the suit in Florida federal court earlier this year and that the complaint alleges “reputational and financial harm, public embarrassment, unfairly tarnished their business reputations, portrayed them in a false light, and negatively affected President Trump, and the other Plaintiffs’ public standing.”

Al Jazeera says the lawsuit argues that Trump, his businesses, and his sons Eric and Donald Jr had suffered “significant and irreparable harm” from the leaks, and it describes the defendants as the IRS and the Treasury Department, both part of the executive branch.

The AP and New York Times both emphasize that the Justice Department has not responded yet and that the case has created an “extraordinary conflict of interest” for government lawyers who must defend a suit brought by the president.

The New York Times states that “Officials expected that they would ultimately need Mr. Trump’s approval for whatever path they chose,” highlighting the procedural entanglement described by multiple outlets.

A group of former government officials and watchdog groups filed friend-of-the-court briefs raising concerns about collusive litigation tactics, and the Democracy Forward brief is quoted in both Al Jazeera and Los Angeles Times.

In Al Jazeera, the brief says, “This case is extraordinary because the President controls both sides of the litigation, which raises the prospect of collusive litigation tactics,” and it adds that “To treat this case like business as usual would threaten the integrity of the justice system and the important taxpayer and privacy protections at the heart of this case.”

The settlement posture is anchored in the language of the court filing that multiple outlets quote, including a request for a 90-day pause and a description of the purpose of the extension.

The Los Angeles Times and AP both cite the same passage in which Trump’s lawyers argue that “This limited pause will neither prejudice the parties nor delay ultimate resolution,” and that “Rather, the extension will promote judicial economy and allow the Parties to explore avenues that could narrow or resolve the issues efficiently.”

Bloomberg Línea

The New York Times adds that Trump’s lawyers asked for the 90-day extension of Monday’s deadline and says the Justice Department had not responded, leaving the government’s response pending.

ABC30 Fresno similarly reports that the attorneys requested a deadline extension so they could “engage in discussions designed to resolve this matter and to avoid protracted litigation,” and it says both sides agreed to the 90-day extension.

Mediaite and The New Republic describe the same filing as indicating settlement talks may be underway, with Mediaite quoting that the talks were “designed to resolve this matter” and that the parties were “engaging in discussions and need time to work through how to ensure those discussions can take place productively to avoid protracted litigation.”

The New Republic repeats the legal language about “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,” and it characterizes the filing as containing the detail that Trump has been in talks with his own government staffers.

The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times both say federal agencies are engaging in discussions to resolve the lawsuit, and the AP frames the development as talks between Trump’s lawyers and the IRS.

The reporting ties the settlement timeline to a specific procedural deadline and a specific extension period, while also grounding the underlying case in dates and sentencing outcomes.

“Trump says that leaks of his tax returns have caused substantial and irreparable harm”

Boursorama

Multiple outlets say the lawsuit was filed in January, with the Los Angeles Times describing that Trump asked for a 90-day pause in a federal court filing Friday while the two sides work to reach settlement or resolution.

Boursorama

Al Jazeera says Trump filed the lawsuit in late January of this year, and it describes the defendants as the IRS and the Treasury Department, while also stating that Littlejohn was sentenced to five years in prison in 2024.

AP and Los Angeles Times both specify that Littlejohn was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to leaking tax information between 2018 and 2020, and AP adds that the contractor is from Washington, D.C.

The New York Times provides additional detail about the publication timeline, stating that in 2020 The Times published a series of articles revealing that Trump had paid little or no income tax for years, and it notes that Littlejohn was sentenced to five years in prison for leaking the tax information of Trump and thousands of other wealthy Americans.

The New York Times also says the Justice Department faced a Monday deadline to respond, and that Trump’s lawyers asked to extend Monday’s deadline by 90 days.

As the 90-day pause begins, the next concrete action described across outlets is the continuation of discussions between Trump’s lawyers and the IRS and the Justice Department’s response posture once the extension ends.