The Department of Justice is reportedly weighing a settlement of President Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service — and one of the options on the table is the IRS dropping all audits of Trump, his family members, and his businesses.

Let that sink in. The President of the United States, who controls the agency he is suing, may receive as part of a legal settlement the permanent protection of his finances from scrutiny by that same agency.

IRS procedures require the mandatory audit of the president and vice president's tax returns every year. That requirement exists precisely because the occupant of the Oval Office wields enormous power over the federal government — including the IRS itself. It is one of the few automatic accountability mechanisms that applies to the most powerful person in the country.

A 2024 New York Times report found that a loss in an existing IRS audit could cost Trump more than $100 million. Federal law already prohibits the president from directly ordering the start or end of an IRS audit of a specific taxpayer. A settlement that achieves exactly that outcome through the back door would make a mockery of that law.

Former IRS and Justice Department officials have already filed a brief arguing Trump's lawsuit is legally weak and should not be settled on its merits. The federal judge overseeing the case has taken extraordinary steps to probe whether the lawsuit is even legitimate — and is demanding answers from both sides by May 20.

The American people deserve a president whose finances are subject to the same scrutiny the law requires. Sign this petition to demand the IRS maintain all mandatory audits of President Trump and refuse any settlement that shields him or his family from financial accountability.

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