In its landmark 6-3 immunity decision, the Supreme Court created a three-tiered framework under which presidents are absolutely immune from claims arising from their exclusive constitutional authority. They are entitled to presumptive immunity for all other official acts within the ‘outer perimeter’ of their duties, but have no immunity for unofficial, private acts committed while in office.
Trump’s personal lawsuit against the IRS seeking a preposterous $10 billion in personal damages, his negotiated “audit immunity” forgiving his personal tax evasion, and the $1.8 billion he’s snatching from taxpayers to pay January 6 criminals who broke the law in his name were unofficial, private acts merely cloaked under presidential seal. Suing an agency you control, seeking larcenous damages, does not flow from any ‘core constitutional functions’ of the presidency or their outer perimeter; they were undertaken to benefit Trump and his family personally.
After Trump’s personal IRS lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice, his “anti-weaponization fund” was created outside the law and outside the case he claims it arose under. No court approved the ‘settlement,’ rather, the federal judge overseeing the case said there was no there there because parties can’t be both plaintiff and defendant in the same case. In short, Judge Williams asked the litigants to brief how any federal court could even touch what Trump was trying to do: loot a federal agency he controlled. Trump moved to dismiss the case just before the deadline for submitting legal briefs on the judge’s Article III case and controversy concerns, and the slush fund was created after dismissal, which means it was not authorized by any case, judgment, or law.
Immunizing himself from criminal tax liability is not a core presidential function
Trump also tucked a hidden addendum into his “settlement.” The settlement addendum declares that the U.S. is “forever barred and precluded” from auditing, examining or prosecuting Trump, his sons, and the Trump Organization for tax evasion: “The United States RELEASES, WAIVES, ACQUITS, and FOREVER DISCHARGES each of the Plaintiffs from, and is hereby FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED from prosecuting or pursuing, any and all claims, counterclaims, causes of action, appeals, or requests for any monetary relief,” that “have been or could have been” asserted by the IRS against Trump, his sons and their Trump Organization.
Readers will recall that a New York jury previously found the Trump Organization guilty on 17 counts of criminal tax fraud and falsifying business records in December 2022. In a separate case, the Trump Organization was also convicted of business fraud under the statutes of New York. Although some financial penalties were later reversed as excessive, an appeals court upheld key provisions of the fraud finding, including a ban preventing Trump and his two eldest sons from holding executive roles in any New York business, and a ban on Trump and his companies from obtaining loans in the state, which Trump is appealing.
Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal criminal defense lawyer, signed the one-page audit waiver, presumably at Trump’s behest, to end the Trump family’s exposure to criminal federal tax law. The addendum was hidden inside a hyperlink in a press release, and is Trump’s clear attempt to grab blanket immunity for criminal tax evasion.
Negotiating an illegal, personal contract is not a core function either
Trump’s DOJ has provided him with audit immunity from the IRS, a separate agency over which the DOJ has no authority, which also violates standing federal law. Under 26 U.S.C. § 7217, ‘Prohibition on executive branch influence over taxpayer audits and other investigations,’ it is illegal for executive branch officials such as the President or his political appointees to request the termination of an audit. The statute provides:
(a)Prohibition- It shall be unlawful for any applicable person to request, directly or indirectly, any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service to conduct or terminate an audit or other investigation of any particular taxpayer with respect to the tax liability of such taxpayer.
Trump’s IRS waiver addendum is, on its face, the exact conduct 26 USC 7217 was written to prohibit. The statute declares it unlawful for the president or senior executive branch officials to request that any officer of the IRS conduct or terminate an audit or investigation of any particular taxpayer, so it is ultra vires, or beyond any law.
The whole sordid affair fails the sniff test
It’s no mystery why Trump wants a criminal waiver for tax evasion. His underlying suit arose when an IRS contractor embarrassed him by revealing that he, an alleged “successful billionaire,” paid only $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017, and paid zero in federal income taxes for ten years before that.
What a difference a presidency makes. Now back in office and profiting wildly from what has been called the most corrupt presidency in U.S. history, Trump’s brokerage accounts alone executed 3,642 trades worth between $220 million and $750 million in the first quarter of 2026, largely through firms whose enforcement cases his administration has dismissed, and who rely on the laxity of rules Trump appointees write, while he engages in questionable crypto-related insider trading with similar firms.
Trump and Blanche claim that 31 U.S.C. § 1304 authorizes their $1.8 billion slush fund. That is inaccurate. Under the statute, such funds are statutorily limited to paying legal settlements and judgments against the United States, but this was neither a settlement nor a judgment, because there was no case in controversy, there was no judgment prior to dismissal, and no “settlement” was approved by any court. Without legal, settlement, or statutory authority, it’s simple theft, completely outside any core constitutional or ‘outer perimeter’ powers.
Trump’s IRS suit began and ended as a personal matter, with a personal audit waiver thrown in for good measure. Here’s hoping state prosecutors whose states paid into the $1.8 billion slush fund are sharpening their pencils.