The 25-page IRS memorandum was given to top Treasury officials last month but it’s unclear if it ever made it to the DOJ. The memo stated that Trump’s lawsuit was filed two years too late. Federal statute requires that people suing the IRS for unfairly released tax information must do so within two years of the infraction. Trump claimed not to have known about the tax information leak until January 2024, but the memo notes that Alina Habba—one of Trump’s personal lawyers–was present at the trial of IRS leaker Charles Littlejohn in October 2023. Trump did not file a complaint until January 2026, over two years later.
Just making to crystal clear for everyone: a statute of limitations defense, where there is incontrovertible evidence that there is no delay in discovery of the cause of action, is about as bulletproof of a legal defense as you can get.
So two things
This shows that Trump’s case was frivolous and meritless to any first-year law student, much less the “top lawyers” at the DOJ that assessed this. Trump and his lawyer should be sanctioned at the very least.
Because the DOJ is agreeing to settle this, Todd Blanche and any other lawyers who had to approve the settlement should now have criminal liability for conspiracy to defraud the US government. Because Trump is in control of the DOJ, if it can be shown he was involved in the settlement from the DOJ’s side (which seems almost certain), he should be part of the same criminal conspiracy.
Just making to crystal clear for everyone: a statute of limitations defense, where there is incontrovertible evidence that there is no delay in discovery of the cause of action, is about as bulletproof of a legal defense as you can get.
So two things