Donald Trump and his family have sued the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury department for at least $10bn over the leak of tax returns, in a move that pits the US president against his own government.
The lawsuit brought by Trump, his two older sons, Donald Trump Jr and Eric, and the Trump Organization, stems from the disclosure of tax documents that former IRS contractor and Booz Allen Hamilton employee Charles Littlejohn leaked to the New York Times, ProPublica and other organisations in 2019 and 2020.
The suit claims the leak to “leftist media outlets” caused “reputational and financial harm, public embarrassment, unfairly tarnished their business reputations, portrayed them in a false light and negatively affected President Trump, and the other Plaintiffs’ public standing”, according to the complaint filed in Miami federal court on Thursday.