The U.S. government has permanently and irrevocably agreed to drop all tax claims against President Donald Trump and to bar the Internal Revenue Service from any future examination or prosecution of Trump, his adult sons, and the Trump Organization, according to a settlement addendum made public Tuesday. The one-page document signed by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was quietly posted to the Justice Department’s website a day after the broader settlement resolving Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns was announced.
The provision goes beyond merely resolving the existing lawsuit. It forecloses any future tax scrutiny of the president and his business enterprises — an arrangement the Associated Press described as an extraordinary use of executive power that could effectively shield the president from further examination of his finances and legal conduct.
The document states that the U.S. is “forever barred and precluded” from examining or prosecuting Trump, his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., and the Trump Organization’s current tax examinations. It further bars the government from looking into Trump’s family, affiliates, and others, according to the settlement addendum.
The addendum is a separate component of the settlement that resolved Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. That lawsuit stemmed from the leak of Trump’s tax returns and accused the agency of violating federal privacy law by allowing confidential tax information to be disclosed. The broader terms of the settlement were announced Monday, with the government agreeing to a substantial financial payout.
The document was signed by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, a longtime Trump defense attorney whom the president appointed to lead the Justice Department. The addendum was quietly added to the department’s website on Tuesday without a formal announcement.
Legal experts cited by multiple news outlets said the scope of the provision appeared unprecedented, given that it bars a federal agency from conducting any future tax examination of a sitting president and his family members — effectively granting a form of immunity from tax enforcement that ordinary taxpayers do not have.