The Daily Fuckup

President Donald Trump’s lawyers asked a federal judge on Friday, April 17, 2026, to put his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS and Treasury Department on hold for 90 days while the sides continue settlement discussions. The filing said the pause would give both sides time to explore whether they can reach a resolution and would not delay the case’s ultimate outcome. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/c710244db618b066f3070a65e75820a5?utm_source=openai))

The lawsuit, filed earlier this year, accuses the government of leaking Trump’s tax information to news organizations between 2018 and 2020 and says the disclosures caused reputational and financial harm. Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, are also plaintiffs. The request for a pause does not end the case; it only asks the court to slow it down while talks continue. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/c710244db618b066f3070a65e75820a5?utm_source=openai))

The leak at the center of the case has already led to a criminal sentence. Charles Edward Littlejohn, a former IRS contractor, was sentenced in January 2024 to five years in prison after pleading guilty to disclosing tax return information to news organizations. The Justice Department said he stole return information while working as a government contractor at the IRS. ([justice.gov](https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/former-irs-contractor-sentenced-disclosing-tax-return-information-news-organizations?utm_source=openai))

Trump has also drawn scrutiny because the case puts him in the position of suing agencies within the executive branch he leads. Ethics groups have filed friend-of-the-court briefs raising conflict-of-interest concerns, and the filing for a 90-day pause came while that larger legal fight was still unresolved. For now, the only concrete development is the request itself: a delay, not a settlement. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/c710244db618b066f3070a65e75820a5?utm_source=openai))