I have been a lawyer since 1978, and have spent my entire professional life working in and around government. I’ve gotten to know many dedicated public servants on both sides of the political aisle, and have the utmost respect for many (if not most) of them. But what I’m seeing from Donald T rump and what was once the Department of Justice is the biggest travesty, and the greatest grift, in the history of our country. Back in 2020, a former IRS contractor, Charles Littlejohn, stole the tax records of Donald Trump and thousands of other wealthy Americans (including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Michael Bloomberg). He leaked that information to The New York Times and to ProPublica. The Times published a blockbuster story laying out how little in taxes Trump paid.  In October 2023, Littlejohn pleaded guilty to unauthorized disclosure of tax return information. He was sentenced to five years in prison — the maximum penalty for that charge. The leak occurred when Trump was president. It was prosecuted and the defendant convicted when Biden was president. Trump waited until Jan. 29, 2026, to sue the United States for $10 billion in “damages.” Trump was the only person whose tax data was leaked who sought money (billionaire Ken Griffin got a formal apology but not one dollar). The suit was almost certainly barred by the statute of limitation (two years). Trump alleged in his lawsuit that he didn’t discover the disclosure of his tax information until Jan. 29, 2024. But the leak was highly publicized; the case against Littlejohn was all over the media; and when Littlejohn was sentenced, one of Trump’s own lawyers (Alina Habba) addressed the court and the media to complain about the leak, calling it an “egregious breach by an agent of the IRS … for political gain.” Trump knew. Moreover, Littlejohn was an outside contractor (not a federal employee). Thus, the government most likely bore no legal responsibility for his actions. Fast forward to 2026. IRS lawyers wanted the Department of Justice to vigorously defend the lawsuit. DOJ declined to do so. Remember, the DOJ is supposed to represent the American people. But the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, formerly served as Trump’s personal lawyer. Normally, such an ethical conflict would warrant recusal. But Blanche did not recuse himself. Instead, Trump dropped his lawsuit, and hours later Blanche announced a settlement (how can one settle a suit that has already been dropped?). Moreover, how can Trump be both the plaintiff and the settling party? In fact, the judge assigned to the case had paused any settlement discussion because she believed there was no “case or controversy” and so there wasn’t a real dispute between two parties whose interests are genuinely opposed. It is in this context that Blanche ordered the U.S. Treasury to pay $1.776 billion of our tax dollars into a fund controlled by people Trump chose who could dole out that money to anyone they want. That includes people who were convicted of beating Capitol police, Trump lawyers who schemed to sit false electors (imposters pretending they were the actual Electoral College delegates), and Proud Boy and Oathkeeper thugs who desecrated the Capitol and tried to hang Mike Pence. With this, Trump gets to reward his goons who attacked our Capitol and tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. Congress never authorized the appropriation. But it’s even worse. The bogus settlement does not require disclosure of who gets paid, how much they get paid, why they got paid, or anything else. A literal black hole, where nearly $2 billion is disbursed with zero oversight or accountability. It gets worse yet. One day later, DOJ disclosed that as part of this absurd settlement, the IRS is barred from prosecuting Trump, his family and his businesses for any taxes owed — past, present or future. It appears to end an ongoing IRS audit that The New York Times reported could cost Trump $100 million. And it clearly violates a federal law that prohibits any president from directing any IRS officer “to conduct or terminate an audit or other investigation of any particular taxpayer.” So, to summarize: a suit that was time barred, against the wrong defendant, by parties that were not adverse. That suit dropped, but then settled, by giving out almost $1.8 billion in our tax dollars to anyone Trump wants, with no oversight or accountability. Plus immunity for Trump, his family, and his businesses. The courts are still weighing in on this, though the Justice Department has scrapped the fund under pressure. Sen. John Curtis broke with other Republican senators to vote against it, and Sen. Mike Lee championed this, the greatest grift in U.S. history. Gene DeSantis Kamas The post Greatest grift ever appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less