What is Really Important to President Trump?

As a dealmaker, Donald Trump likes to play his cards close to his chest. He disguises his true priorities by cleverly mixing in a lot of gambits and red herrings. The gambits he hopes will succeed but are not of priority importance to him. The red herrings are not important to him at all and are only meant to divert attention from things that are.

The clock is ticking, however. He will turn 80 on June 14. The mid-term elections are on 3 November. He has to move to cement his legacy. And all of this conspires to make it more difficult to hide what is really important to him.

In this regard, the negotiations to settle his $10 billion lawsuit against his Internal Revenue Service are deeply revealing.

The Evolving Backstory

In January 2026, President Trump sued the IRS for $10 Billion for illegal leaks of his tax returns during his first term as President. The leak of Trump’s tax return and the returns of some thousands of other taxpayers were committed by an IRS contractor who was convicted in 2023 and is now in jail.

The federal judge hearing the case was dubious about its legitimacy because the IRS reports to Trump as President. To avoid the judge throwing the case out, Trump’s personal lawyers worked with Trump’s governmental lawyers in the Justice and Treasury Departments to find a mutually satisfactory settlement. According to a New York Times report of 12 May, the proposed settlement at that time focused on immunity for the President and his relatives from IRS audits of past tax returns.

An initial settlement agreement was announced by the Justice Department on Monday, 18 May. In it, Trump dropped the demand for $10 billion in exchange for a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” which would not benefit the President directly.

Later that day, ‘somebody’ told Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche that the initial settlement forgot to include the immunity for the President and his relatives from tax audits. On 19 May, Blanche hastily issued on his own signature an addendum to the settlement agreement barring the IRS from auditing past tax returns of President Trump or his relatives. Blanche’s addendum was of such deep legal and ethical concern to the top lawyer at the Treasury Department, General Counsel Brian Morrissey, that he abruptly resigned.

The White House and Blanche retreated partially when the settlement agreement created a firestorm in Congress, including a number of a senior Republicans. On 2 June, Blanche testified to the House Appropriations Committee that the Administration would not be moving forward with the “Anti-Weaponization Fund.” He said that his addendum granting immunity for the President and his relatives from IRS audits would remain in effect, however.

On the evening of 3 June, President Trump made an impromptu announcement at a dinner that he had decided to formally nominate Blanche as permanent Attorney General. The dinner was a private occasion, but the White House posted a video of the President’s remarks on social media and Blanche confirmed his nomination on 4 June.

The timing of the President’s 3 June announcement on the heels of the Acting Attorney General’s 2 June testimony is telling. It indicates that the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” was either a gambit or a red herring but the IRS tax audit issue was really important to the President.

Bessent in a Bind

The Blanche addendum is of questionable legality. If allowed to stand, it will terminate an IRS audit of a $72.9 million tax refund that Trump claimed and received circa 2010. If there was an adverse audit finding, Trump would have to reimburse the government that amount plus pay interest and penalties. His total liability would reach on the order of $100 million.

This puts Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a bind. There has been no IRS Commissioner or Acting Commissioner since 8 August 2025 when President Trump fired Billy Long. There has been no Deputy Treasury Secretary since President Trump fired Michael Faulkender on 22 August 2025. In their absence, Secretary Bessent is legally required to decide all statutory matters related to the IRS including the Trump audit controversy.

As noted above, Treasury’s well-thought-of General Counsel, Brian Morrissey, resigned over legal and ethical concerns regarding the Blanche addendum. In addition, there has never been an IRS Chief Counsel in this second Trump Administration, and the Acting IRS Chief Counsel is recused from any issue related to President Trump’s taxes. So, Bessent has nobody to provide him legal advice.

Chaos causes stress in human beings, including Scott Bessent. In a previously scheduled appearance before the Senate Finance Committee on 3 June, the normally smooth Bessent got testy and refused to answer questions on whether Trump and his family would receive immunity from IRS audits. He said, “There is continuing litigation and I am unable to comment on ongoing litigation.”

When Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto asked if the thousands of other taxpayers whose returns were also leaked would receive the same immunity from IRS audits as the President, Bessent again refused to answer and referred the Senator to the Justice Department and Blanche.

What a mess. It will be fascinating to watch as this story develops.

bruceheldbooks.com

For more, please check out my website above.