The DOJ is holding internal discussions about settling Chumpy's lawsuit against the IRS in the coming days, a move that could once again involve the government directly providing taxpayer funds or another public benefit to the president.
One of the settlement options the Justice Department and White House officials are reviewing is the possibility of the IRS dropping any audits of Trump, his family members or businesses, according to two of the people. (Haha, Department of Justice = "Just Us". Get it?)
In January, Trump et al sued the IRS for at least $10 billion over the leak of their tax returns during Chumpy's first term. The crime family argued that the IRS should have done more to prevent a former contractor from disclosing tax information to The New York Times and ProPublica.
Given that Chumpy oversees the I.R.S., the agency that he is suing, the judge in the case has taken a series of novel legal steps to probe whether there is a genuine controversy between the Justice Department and Mr. Trump. For a lawsuit to be valid, the two parties must actually be on opposite sides, otherwise the judge can throw out the case. The judge has ordered Mr. Trump’s personal lawyers — along with the Justice Department, which represents the I.R.S. in federal court — to submit briefs by May 20 explaining whether they are in conflict with one another.
But the White House and Justice Department lapdogs (yoo hoo, Todd Blanche!) have in recent days been racing to settle the suit before that deadline, according to the people.
