Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit

Hey, everybody.Right now, Donald Trump is using our legal system to steal billions of dollars from us.Let me explain.I'm Liz Zoyer, the former pardon attorney for the Department of Justice.During Trump's first presidency, a contractor working for the IRS leaked some of Trump's tax returns to the press.This was embarrassing for Trump because he did not want us to know that he pays almost no taxes.

What the contractor did was a crime, and he went to prison for five years.But that was not enough for Donald Trump.Earlier this year, he filed a lawsuit against the U .S.government, yes, the government that he runs, demanding payment of $10 billion in compensation.Where would that money come from?

From our tax dollars, from those of us who actually pay our taxes.Trump's case has some major legal problems.For one, there is no basis whatsoever for claiming $10 billion in damages.Trump cannot prove in any way, shape, or form that the leak of his tax returns cost him billions of dollars.Two, there are immunity defenses that the government can raise in a case like this to protect taxpayer money.Also, this leak happened six years ago.

In law, there is something called a statute of limitations, which is a time limit for filing lawsuits.Here, that time limit is two years, which means Trump's claim is legally barred because it was filed four years too late.In other words, Trump's lawsuit is a total sham.But here's the thing.The Justice Department is responsible for defending the taxpayers against sham lawsuits.

And right now, Donald Trump's personal attorney, Todd Blanche, runs the Justice Department.Is this a conflict of interest?Yes, one million percent.In fact, the judge overseeing the case is onto this.She has scheduled a hearing to decide whether this is a legitimate lawsuit.The Constitution actually says that courts can only hear cases that raise genuine disputes between adverse parties.

This is called the case or controversy doctrine.This judge questioned whether Trump is actually adverse to the Justice Departmentgiven that he runs the place.If she finds that Trump and DOJ are actually on the same side, she will dismiss his case.

That sounds like good news, but here's what's happening now.DOJ is negotiating a settlement with Trump, meaning they are working out an agreement to pay him, and they're trying to do it quickly before the judge has a chance to dismiss his lawsuit.If they reach an agreement before the court hearing, which is May 27th, Trump will just withdraw his case and the judge will not be able to do anything to stop it.This is outrageous levels of corruption.The president does not own our country.Our tax dollars are not his dollars.

I can assure you that lots of smart lawyers are thinking about what we can do to recover all of the money Trump is stealing from our government once he leaves office, if not sooner.I will keep you posted.