Trump Sued the Tax Agencies He Controlled for $10 Billion. His Cabinet Had Money Conflicts Too.

Trump was both the President and a plaintiff suing the Treasury and the IRS. His Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, testified that he was also performing the IRS commissioner's duties. The deal provided tax protections for Trump's family and a proposed $1.776 billion fund for other claimants; the fund was abandoned.

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Judge Kathleen Williams found bad faith and concluded that the deal's bar on future family tax audits contravened federal law. She barred the parties from using the agreement in official proceedings as evidence of a settlement in the case, and left its validity as a private agreement undecided. An appeals court denied a stay of her sanctions; the appeal itself is undecided.

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Members of Congress reported that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick transferred much of his Cantor Fitzgerald stake to his adult sons, and that Cantor helped arrange private financing for USA Rare Earth, a company his department agreed to fund with up to $1.6 billion. Lutnick said he did not know Cantor was involved and that the aim was to reduce dependence on China for critical minerals. The lawmakers estimated that USA Rare Earth may have paid Cantor millions, possibly tens of millions; Cantor's actual fee was not publicly disclosed.

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ProPublica reported that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem expedited more than $11 million for a Naples, Florida, pier after a campaign donor contacted her. Other disaster communities waited under her $100,000 approval policy; ProPublica relayed CNN's report that Texas search-and-rescue teams took days to deploy without her sign-off, and Noem denied delays there. DHS denied political favoritism. The reporting shows unequal access to a decision maker.

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ProPublica reported that a nonprofit that did not have to disclose its donors paid Kristi Noem's private company $80,000 in 2023; her federal disclosure named the company but not the payment, and her lawyer said she complied with the law. The nonprofit's 2024 tax return records another $137,842 payment to her company, which CREW reported was also absent from her disclosure. Regulated companies financed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's family travel show; DOT said ethics officials cleared his participation, and Duffy defended it as part of his official America 250 responsibilities. The President's exemption from the criminal conflicts statute and his immunity for official acts are real legal protections. They do not decide Congress's separate impeachment judgment about abuse of public trust.

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