'Corruption to the highest degree': Sen. Raphael Warnock blasts Trump over IRS audit ban

Democratic lawmakers on Monday slammed President Donald Trump's administration over a settlement between him and the Internal Revenue Service, which included a $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization fund" and a "forever ban" on any audits of Trump's past tax records. Reacting to the move, Senator Raphael Warnock argued that the president abused his powers to protect himself and his family members from tax scrutiny in a move that represents “corruption to the highest degree.”

In a one-page document signed by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and dated Tuesday, the Justice Department said the IRS and the Treasury Department are "FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED" from "prosecuting or pursuing, any claims" that arise out of tax returns filed by the defendants in the president's $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. While the "anti-weaponization" fund itself was under scrutiny, the added layer drew more criticism. "The President just used his power to exempt himself and his family from audits on every tax return they've ever filed. If that is not corruption to the highest degree, then what is?" Warnock wrote in a post on X. In another post from his official account, he questioned what the president and his family are hiding. 

The settlement deal covers all plaintiffs in the president's lawsuit against the IRS, including Trump, the Trump Organization, and the president's sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. While the DOJ clarified that Trump would not receive any money directly from the fund, he could still benefit monetarily from the protection. According to the New York Times, the provision potentially puts an end to a decade-long audit battle between Trump and the IRS over the legitimacy of a $72.9 million tax refund that he claimed and received in 2010. The ruling in the audit could have cost Trump a $100 million fine, according to the publication.  

Furthermore, it protects the president and the Trump family from any scrutiny over their tax filings, which were highly controversial according to the data leaked in 2020. At the time when a contractor leaked information of thousands of taxpayers, including Trump, the NYT found that Trump had paid no income tax in the past 10 out of the 15 years, reporting that his companies lost much more money than they made. Furthermore, he paid just $750 in federal income taxes in the year before he took office for the first time, and another $750 in his first year in the White House, citing losses.

Shortly after the fund was created, a group of 93 House Democrats filed an amicus brief seeking to block it. The group filed a 31-page filing in federal court in the Southern District of Florida, arguing that Article III of the U.S. Constitution "requires" the court to dismiss the settlement in its entirety.  Democrats argued that the settlement wasn't valid since Trump sued the IRS, a federal agency that he oversees. “No controversy can exist when the plaintiff controls the defendant, as President Trump does here," they argued, according to The Hill.