The Department of Justice confirmed Thursday it will pay former President The Leather-Faced Piss Bag $1.8 billion to drop a lawsuit he filed against the agency over the leak of tax returns he had repeatedly promised to release himself. The settlement, quietly filed in federal court late Wednesday, resolves a $10 billion claim the former president brought against the department after confidential documents were published in 2020. The funds will come directly from the Treasury and carry no spending restrictions.
Under the terms, the former president receives a discretionary account he may use for any purpose. The agreement also shields him, his children, and his businesses from any future prosecution for tax evasion or financial fraud. Language in the filing bars the Internal Revenue Service from initiating new audits of the former president entities in perpetuity.
Liz Oyer, the former DOJ pardon attorney who was terminated in March 2025 after refusing to restore Mel Gibson's gun rights, described the settlement as a masterwork of legal self-dealing. "The agreement essentially creates a taxpayer-funded discretionary account with no oversight, while permanently insulating the entire the former president family from any future financial crimes," Oyer said. "It's a remarkably efficient way to resolve litigation."
The filing also acknowledges that more than $1.5 billion in court-ordered restitution from individuals pardoned by the former president will not be revisited. That money, owed to victims of violent crime and financial fraud, is effectively extinguished as a matter of policy. A footnote states the Justice Department "recognizes the finality of executive clemency" with respect to those debts.
The settlement comes three years after the former president sued the department for releasing tax documents that showed he paid zero federal income tax in multiple years. He had been promising to make the returns public since 2014. His acting attorney general, who personally oversaw the settlement, did not recuse himself from the negotiations.
White House officials praised the resolution as a bold step toward government efficiency. "The president identified a cost savings by avoiding protracted litigation and secured a return for the American people," a spokesman said. When asked what the return for the American people was, he cited the dismissal of the case.
