Updated Jan. 29, 2026, 9:20 p.m. ET
President Donald Trump along with two of his sons and the Trump Organization filed a $10 billion lawsuit on Jan. 29 against the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department accusing the agency and the department of leaking his tax returns to “leftist newspapers.”
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Miami, Florida, alleges that the IRS and Treasury failed in their duty to “safeguard and protect” confidential tax returns and in their obligation to prevent “unlawful” leaks by former IRS employee Charles “Chaz” Littlejohn in 2019 and 2020.
Trump’s sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, who both serve as executive vice presidents at Trump Organization, are also listed as plaintiffs.
“From May 2019 through at least September 2020, former IRS employee Charles ‘Chaz’ Littlejohn, who was jointly employed by the IRS and/or one of its contractors, illegally obtained access to, and disclosed Plaintiffs’ tax returns and return information to the New York Times, ProPublica, and other leftist media outlets,” the lawsuit alleges.
Littlejohn, who was sentenced in January 2024, is currently serving a five-year sentence in prison for disclosing thousands of tax returns without authorization.
The lawsuit alleges that Littlejohn’s unlawful disclosure of the tax returns and related information to The New York Times and ProPublica caused “reputational and financial harm” to plaintiffs and “adversely impacted President Trump’s support among voters in the 2020 presidential election.”
Trump broke decades of precedent by refusing to release his tax returns during his 2016 campaign, first presidential term and 2024 campaign, citing ongoing IRS audits.
Trump has sued various media companies over the last one year, including The New York Times, Dow Jones & Co., News Corp., ABC News and CBS.
