Trump Sues IRS Over Tax Return Leak by Former Contractor Charles Littlejohn
Donald Trump, his adult sons, and the Trump Organization filed a federal lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the U.S. Treasury Department on January 30, 2026, seeking $10 billion in damages. The suit alleges the agencies failed to prevent unauthorized access and disclosure of confidential tax information by former IRS contractor Charles Edward Littlejohn.
Charles Littlejohn, a former IRS contractor, pleaded guilty in October 2023 to unauthorized disclosure of tax return information. He had accessed and removed sensitive tax data covering hundreds of thousands of taxpayers, including Trump’s personal and business tax returns. Littlejohn provided this information to news organizations, including The New York Times and ProPublica.
Littlejohn was sentenced to five years in prison in January 2024. The Trump lawsuit claims that the IRS and Treasury did not implement adequate safeguards to prevent the data breach, resulting in reputational and financial harm. The complaint highlights that the leaked records included tax returns from 2015 to 2020, which showed minimal federal income tax payments in certain years.
Trump’s tax filings released to Congress indicated that he paid $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017, and no federal income tax in 2020, primarily due to business losses and deductions. The lawsuit argues that the unauthorized disclosure by Littlejohn amplified public scrutiny of these filings.
The case is being pursued as a civil matter in federal court in Miami. Both the IRS and Treasury Department have not publicly commented on the ongoing litigation, citing the pending legal process.
