Senate Democrats are moving to block President Donald Trump from benefiting from his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Treasury Department. They have introduced a bill that would seize any payout he might receive from the government over the handling of his leaked tax returns.
Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) introduced a measure called the Stop Presidential Embezzlement Act on Tuesday that would prevent Trump from receiving a settlement payment from the IRS if he wins his lawsuit, according to a press release.
Trump filed the lawsuit on January 29 in Florida, naming himself, his sons, and the Trump Organization as plaintiffs. He is accusing the IRS and the Treasury Department of failing to stop former contractor Charles Littlejohn from accessing and leaking his confidential tax returns.
Littlejohn admitted to pulling the president’s tax records, along with others belonging to wealthy individuals, and gave them to news outlets such as The New York Times and Propublica between 2018 and 2020.
The news outlets used the information to publish reports criticizing Trump for paying only $750 in federal income tax in 2016 and 2017. He was sentenced to five years in prison in 2024.
The Stop Presidential Embezzlement Act would impose a 100 percent tax on any settlement or judgment that a sitting president, vice president, cabinet member, or member of Congress receives from the federal government as a result of lawsuits filed while in office. This is ostensibly aimed at ensuring government officials cannot personally benefit from litigation against any of the agencies they oversee.
No president should be allowed to sue the government and pocket taxpayer money. My Prevent Presidential Profiteering Act taxes 100 percent of any settlement paid to a sitting president. The presidency is public service, not a profit opportunity. pic.twitter.com/sT8r5mub8B
— Rep. Mike Thompson (@RepThompson) February 4, 2026
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Democrat leaders are promoting the proposed legislation as a direct check on what they claim is Trump’s attempt to transform his public office into a cash cow. Schumer said the bill is meant to stop Trump from “enriching himself off the back of taxpayers” through “corrupt lawsuits.”
Wyden noted that the president “effectively controls both sides of the case” and insisted that Congress take action because “no president should be able to sue his own government then pocket a windfall.” Others have accused Trump of trying to “turn the presidency into a personal piggy bank.”
Regardless of the merit of the bill (or lack thereof), this won’t amount to anything other than political grandstanding. Even if Democrats were able to persuade enough Republicans in the House and Senate to back the measure, Trump would just veto it. At this point, there is no way Democrats could hope to gain enough support to override the veto.
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