The labor union representing IRS and Treasury Department workers filed in court Thursday to block the sweeping tax audit immunity agreement that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed in May, arguing the deal would force career employees to choose between following a political order and following the law, per HuffPost’s confirmed reporting published today. A federal judge had already called the deal illegal and blocked one component of it. Twenty-three state attorneys general called it a “corrupt effort to defile the court itself.” The IRS workers are now in court too.
The immunity deal is extensive. Blanche signed an addendum permanently barring the IRS from investigating Trump, his family, and hundreds of affiliated businesses for any taxes filed before May 18, 2026. Under the deal, per the New York Times’s summary cited in Raw Story, the IRS must drop any ongoing inquiries into Trump, his family members, their companies, or “affiliated individuals,” and cannot start new investigations into returns already filed. The IRS normally has three years to assess additional taxes after a return is filed. That window is now closed for the Trumps. A federal judge had already told the administration it couldn’t do this. The addendum remains in place.
Trump himself identified the problem months earlier. “I’m supposed to work out a settlement with myself,” he acknowledged after suing the agencies he controls. The settlement produced a deal in which the agency he controls agreed not to audit him. Former IRS and DOJ officials, including the agency’s former commissioner, argued the arrangement would enshrine two separate tax codes: one for Trump’s family, one for everyone else. Trump could have owed the IRS as much as $100 million from an ongoing audit that the deal terminated.
The timing that national security blogger Marcy Wheeler noted on X: “Friday: Capital One reveals Trump was debanked because he was laundering money. Sunday: Acting Attorney General solidifies promise his tax crimes won’t be punished.” Capital One’s July 31 court filing was the first time a bank formally tied anti-money laundering concerns to Trump’s business empire. Two days later, Blanche moved to lock in written immunity. The IRS workers’ union filed to stop it Thursday.
Two tax codes. One for the Trumps. One for everyone who pays the IRS workers’ salaries.
When the IRS workers’ own union files in court to stop the president’s tax immunity deal that a federal judge already called illegal, what exactly is the deal protecting?
Sources
HuffPost: IRS Workers Union Wants Judge To Block Trump’s Tax Audit Immunity Deal
HuffPost: Republican Senators Can’t Defend Trump’s Tax Immunity Deal
Raw Story: Trump’s lawsuit backfires as filing reveals accounts closed over money-laundering fears
