Trump sues the IRS and Treasury for $10 billion over the Littlejohn leak — while controlling both defendants

President Donald Trump, his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization filed a $10 billion civil lawsuit against the IRS and Treasury Department in federal court in Florida on January 29, 2026, alleging the agencies failed to protect his confidential tax return information from contractor Charles Littlejohn. Trump lawyers argued the leak caused reputational and financial harm and public embarrassment, including New York Times reporting that Trump paid only $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017. Legal scholars and watchdog groups immediately flagged an unprecedented structural conflict of interest: Trump as president simultaneously controlled the IRS and Treasury — the defendants — and directed the Attorney General who would defend them in court.