Trump’s $10-B Suit Against His Own Gov’t Likely to Be Junked

It would seem a surefire path to a payout: A sitting president files suit demanding $10 billion in damages from a federal government he oversees, alleging he’s been wronged in his personal capacity.

The Trump Organization filed a suit last month against the IRS and the Treasury Department.

That scenario would appear to give him the final say on whether he walks away with a settlement and how big it should be, Peter Nicholas reported for NBC News.

As President Donald Trump describes it, any money he receives from the suit that he, his two oldest sons, and the Trump Organization filed last month against the IRS and the Treasury Department would go to worthy causes.

Does the Trump Organization qualify as a charity, Trump foes ask.

“And any money that I win, I’ll give it to charity, 100 percent to charities, charities that will be approved by government or whatever,” the president said Wednesday in an interview with NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Llamas.

If things get to that point.

Any number of developments in and out of the courtroom could sidetrack a settlement arising from Trump’s complaint, legal experts, lawmakers, and ethics specialists told NBC News.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., plans to introduce legislation next week to prohibit Trump from receiving any payout from the lawsuit, according to spokesperson Ryan Carey.

The bill would impose a 100 percent tax on any litigation proceeds or settlement in the case, Carey said.

Watchdogs Common Cause and the Project on Government Oversight, along with four former federal officials, submitted a 23-page friend-of-the-court brief asking the court to consider delaying the case until Trump leaves office in January 2029.

The brief contends that “the conflicts of interest make it uncertain whether the DOJ will zealously defend the public [treasury] in the same way that it has against other plaintiffs claiming damages for related events.”

A judge has discretion in handling the issue and stands as a potential roadblock to a settlement that leaves taxpayers on the hook.

Presiding over the case is Kathleen M. Williams, a federal district court judge in Miami who was nominated by then-President Barack Obama in 2011.

One possibility is that Williams throws out the suit on the grounds that it simply isn’t a matter for the court system, said Stephen Gillers, professor of legal ethics at NYU School of Law.

Under the Constitution, federal judges are supposed to adjudicate disputes between “adverse” interests, Gillers said.

Because Trump is on both sides of the issue, “it’s not a real dispute” and thus isn’t something the court is permitted to resolve, he said.