President Donald Trump said Saturday that he is considering settling his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS and donating the money to charity.
Trump filed a lawsuit Thursday accusing the agency of unlawfully leaking his confidential tax returns in a politically motivated violation of federal privacy laws.
A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team previously told that a “rogue, politically motivated” IRS employee disclosed private and confidential tax information involving Trump, his family and the Trump Organization to outlets including The New York Times and ProPublica.
President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media aboard Air Force One as he travels from Washington, DC to West Palm Beach, Florida, on Jan. 31, 2026. (SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Speaking with reporters Saturday aboard Air Force One, Trump said he is considering settling the case and giving the proceeds to “established and respected charities.”
“We’re thinking about doing something for charity where I’ll give money to charity,” he said. “We can make it a substantial amount. Nobody would care because it’s going to go to numerous very good charities.”
Trump added, “If I pay myself, that somehow will never look good.”
“A lot of outside people said, ‘What a great idea,’ because nobody cares how much if it goes to a good charity,” Trump said. “So you settle by giving charities a lot of money and I think we’re going to do something like that. We’re looking to do something like that.”
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday, saying he is considering settling his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS and donating the proceeds to charity. (Al Drago/Getty Images / Getty Images)
The president pointed to the American Cancer Society as a possible example of a recipient.
The lawsuit claims that disclosures by the IRS were illegal and harmed millions by violating federal privacy laws.
The leak centers around a contractor, Charles Littlejohn, who pleaded guilty in October 2023 to a single felony count of unauthorized disclosure of tax return information and is serving a five-year prison sentence.
Littlejohn admitted to stealing and leaking Trump’s tax records to The New York Times and separately disclosing confidential tax information about wealthy individuals to ProPublica.
Former IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn, right, was sentenced to five years in prison for leaking the tax returns of President Donald Trump and other wealthy people. (Fox News)
According to the lawsuit, Littlejohn testified during a 2024 deposition that the materials he leaked included information on all of Trump’s business holdings.