President Donald Trump is no stranger when it comes to filing lawsuits. During his second term, Trump has filed and threatened to file lawsuits against various entities.
In addition to weaponizing the Department of Justice (DOJ) against perceived political enemies such as New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey, Trump has made it clear he is willing to use the courts as a personal tool to threaten, intimidate, and retaliate.
Recently, Trump has personally filed a lawsuit against the Treasury Department’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for $10 billion over allegations that they failed to protect his tax returns, which were leaked by an IRS contractor to The New York Times in 2020. Although the contractor was sentenced to prison in 2024 for leaking his tax documents, Trump’s thirst for vengeance evidently has yet to be fully satiated.
Trump Claims He Will Donate Money From Lawsuits To Charity
Trump was recently interviewed by NBC News’ Tom Llamas. During the interview, Llamas asked Trump about the IRS lawsuit.
Trump insisted that the money he “wins” from the IRS lawsuit will be given to charity. “Any money that I win, I’ll give it to charity, 100% to charities,” Trump stated.
Trump also discussed in the interview that he has another lawsuit against the federal government over the FBI raiding Mar-a-Lago. However, there is no pending lawsuit against the government over the FBI raid, so Trump was either lying or is planning on filing a lawsuit.
When Llamas mentioned that the money Trump plans on receiving from the lawsuit is taxpayer dollars, he frantically made excuses for himself, prompting a tense exchange between the two:
Llamas: There’s a new lawsuit by you and your family that you’re suing the IRS for $10.5 billion for leaking your tax documents. Is that a good use of taxpayer money?
Trump: You can’t leak documents, and any money that I win, I’ll give it to charity, 100% to charities. Charities that will be approved by government or whatever. I have another lawsuit with the United States. I sued because they broke into Mar-a-Lago.
Llamas: But that’s taxpayer money. It’s gonna-
Trump: No, no…
The messy dialogue between the two continued as Trump talked about the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago:
Trump: And they broke into Mar-a-Lago. They broke into my home, they went through-
Llamas: Well, they had warrants. They didn’t break in.
…
Trump: They went through the whole house. Hundreds of people, they went in with guns. Guns would’ve been ablazing.
Llamas: So how would this work-
Trump: Wait, wait, wait, wait.
…
Llamas: Scott Bessent’s the head of the IRS.
Trump: I know, what I will do-
Llamas: Pam Bondi’s the head of the Justice Department. They’re gonna defend the IRS against you.
Trump: I know, that’s interesting-
Llamas: You’re their boss.
Trump: Well, there’s never been anything like it, in all fairness.
…
Trump: I won three times, but I didn’t assume- unfortunately for this country, I didn’t assume office the second time. But here’s the story. I sued because they broke into Mar-a-Lago. That was before I became president. Now it goes along, and it turned out that the suit is a very strong suit.
Llamas: You’re gonna tell them to pay you though? Because you’re the boss.
Trump: Well, what I would do, tell them to pay me, but I’ll give 100% of the money to charity. I don’t want any of that money.
Llamas: You take it out of the system. Um, a couple more questions here-
Trump: No, no, I’m putting it back into the system.
