Trump’s government moves to spare an unhappy taxpayer named Trump.
- The San Juan Daily Star
- 8 hours ago
- 6 min read
By PETER BAKER
It is hard to imagine that any previous president would have thought he could engage in such an audacious act of self-dealing.
Sue the government he runs, then settle the lawsuit with himself by barring the IRS from auditing his past returns. And as part of that adeal, hand over $1.8 billion of taxpayer money to his allies.
President Donald Trump has used the federal government to advance his own personal interests and those of his family and allies more expansively and openly than any past occupant of the White House. Any review of history would suggest that it is not even close.
But as Trump, the only felon ever elected president, heads deeper into his second term, he seems even less inhibited by the rules, written or unwritten, that governed his predecessors. While deeply unpopular with the general public, he has demonstrated as recently as this week that he remains the undisputed master of his own party, and therefore appears to feel that he can do as he likes without fear of Congress standing in his way.
His self-granted writ of immunity from IRS audits amounts to a get-out-of-audits-free card, essentially the equivalent of pardoning himself for any past offenses and forgiving any tax debt or penalties. While the status of any now-short-circuited audits is not publicly known, his action could theoretically save him from paying $100 million or more, based on past estimates of what his liability might have been under an unfavorable IRS decision.
The IRS audit immunity for himself, along with the taxpayer payout to his supporters — potentially including those who attacked the Capitol and beat police officers on Jan. 6, 2021, in an effort to overturn an election that Trump lost — stand out in their brazenness, yet not in what they say about his underlying approach to governance in his sixth year in office.
Trump has so blurred the lines between his financial interests and his public office that it is hard to define where the lines lie anymore, or if they still exist. He, his family and his friends have made a fortune in the 16 months since he returned to power in ways that once would have been seen as conflicts of interest and possibly generated investigations.
“Presidents have had corrupt, even criminal, family members,” said Barbara A. Perry, a presidential scholar at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, citing, among others, Hunter Biden. “But none of them succeeded to the extent of the Trump family in the level of graft achieved.”
She added: “They have won the presidency twice, emasculated Congress, created a supportive high court, and reshaped the law and institutions to absolve them of any wrongdoing, while making billions of ill-gotten dollars.”
Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, rejected the assertion.
“This is the same tired narrative that Democrats have pushed against President Trump, his family and his administration for a decade,” she said. “President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public — which is why they overwhelmingly reelected him to this office, despite years of lies and false accusations against him and his businesses from the fake news media. There are no conflicts of interest.”
Just last week, a disclosure form indicated that Trump’s investment portfolio executed more than 3,600 trades in the first three months of this year alone, many involving companies that he has favored with access or policies. His portfolio bought stock in companies run by 15 of the 17 CEOs he brought with him to China last week. The timing of some purchases has raised questions about whether they were related to statements he made or to policies he embraced.
The Trump Organization, his family-owned business, said that the trades were made by outside brokerage firms, and that he, his family and his firm did not have any role in deciding what stocks to buy or sell. But unlike most modern presidents, Trump has not put his investments in a genuine blind trust, since, as the disclosure form made clear, it is no secret to him what companies he has shares in as he goes about making policy decisions.
His family has profited enormously off his new cryptocurrency business at the same time the president has rolled back regulation of the industry. Trump pardoned the founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, which was involved in helping the Trump family build its crypto startup. Jeff Bezos, whose businesses receive federal contracts and depend on U.S. Postal Service rates, approved paying an estimated $28 million to Melania Trump, the first lady, for a self-promotional film streamed on Amazon.
Trump’s sons and son-in-law are involved in multibillion-dollar business ventures in the Gulf Arab states at the same time the president is making those nations favorites of his foreign policy. An investment firm tied to the United Arab Emirates made a $500 million investment in the Trump crypto firm just days before his inauguration. The Trump administration later approved the export of advanced chips to the UAE. Altogether, Bloomberg has estimated that the family’s crypto investments have increased its net worth by more than $1 billion, at least on paper.
Polls show that most of the public has concluded that Trump is leveraging the presidency for his own benefit. A poll by YouGov in March found that 54% of Americans believed the term “corrupt” applied “a lot” to the president, up from 46% a year earlier.
Democrats lashed out after the announcement of the $1.8 billion fund for Trump’s allies and the IRS immunity. “A stunning act of corruption,” said Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon. “A scam,” wrote Reps. Richard Neal of Massachusetts and Jamie Raskin of Maryland. “This one is just eye-popping unbelievable,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
Even some Republicans indicated unease with the arrangement. Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the majority leader, said he was “not a big fan” of the taxpayer fund for Trump’s supporters. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania went so far as to say that “we’re going to try to kill it.”
But the Republican congressional majorities, which eagerly pursued corruption allegations against President Joe Biden and his family, have until now shown little interest in scrutinizing Trump’s blending of personal and public interests. And Trump demonstrated once again Tuesday with the defeat of Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky in a Republican primary that he still wields unrivaled power to punish those who cross him.
Speaking with reporters Wednesday, Trump defended his lawsuit against the IRS over a contractor illegally providing his tax forms to reporters. The contractor has since been convicted by the Biden Justice Department and sentenced to prison, but Trump argued the agency itself should still be held responsible.
He still acted as if he had nothing to do with the eventual deal negotiated by lawyers who work for him, including the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, who was his personal defense attorney in criminal cases before the 2024 election.
“I guess they made a settlement of some kind,” Trump said. “I wasn’t involved in the settlement. I could have been involved. But I didn’t choose to be.” He did not explain why the release of his tax forms, even if the government is held liable, should preclude him from being audited for his past returns.
As for the $1.8 billion fund, it is to go to those people who were supposedly mistreated by the Justice Department under Biden, which could include the Jan. 6 attackers, who were already pardoned by Trump. “People were destroyed,” he said. “They went to jail. Their families were ruined. They committed suicide.” He made no mention of the police officers who were assaulted or later died.
Even the most notorious presidential financial scandals in history — Credit Mobilier during Ulysses S. Grant’s administration, Teapot Dome during Warren G. Harding’s presidency and Watergate during Richard M. Nixon’s tenure — did not come close to the money swirling around the Trump family during his second term.
“Not only do the three most infamous previous presidency financial-political scandals seem minor compared to Trump’s,” said Perry, the presidential scholar, “but none of the three presidents — Grant, Harding, Nixon — padded their own bank accounts.” People around Grant and Harding traded public policy for money, but there was no evidence that the presidents themselves profited. And the money raised by Nixon’s team went to his campaign dirty tricks slush fund and hush money for the Watergate burglars, rather into the president’s pocket.