As Blanche’s path to confirmation is cleared, Trump’s tax audit immunity remains in place

WASHINGTON (AP) — In negotiations with Republican senators whose support he needs to be confirmed as attorney general, Todd Blanche formally rescinded a $1.8 billion fund meant to compensate President Donald Trump’s political allies. But a sweeping audit immunity plan conferred on the president, his sons and the Trump Organization remains in place — given new parameters to appease the senators but still with the potential to wipe away millions of dollars of Trump’s back taxes. In a document Blanche sent to the lawmakers Sunday, he said the audit immunity, struck as part of a deal to resolve the president’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS, would not protect the president from the examination of future tax filings.

Instead, he noted, it “applies by its terms only retroactively” to claims open at the time of the lawsuit’s settlement. For the holdout GOP lawmakers who opposed both the fund and the audit deal, those assurances were enough and are expected to clear the way for Blanche’s confirmation to serve as attorney general. But the political accommodation leaves in place a highly unusual agreement over the president’s taxes that has spurred bipartisan outrage and tested confidence in the fairness of the tax system.

The original audit deal promised broad protections for Trump Trump’s audit immunity came as part of the controversial settlement crafted to resolve Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit filed earlier this year against the IRS over his leaked tax returns. The deal drew furor from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, largely over the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund.” According to the initial outline of the audit deal, spelled out in a one-page document signed by Blanche, the U.S. was “forever barred and precluded” from examining or prosecuting any of the plaintiffs — Trump, his sons and the Trump Organization’s — current tax filings, as well as other “related or affiliated” individuals.

The document sent to Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis Sunday limits both the time frame for investigations and the scope of people who would receive audit protection to Trump, his sons Eric Trump and Donald Jr. It’s unclear how much Trump owes the federal government in back taxes, but the latest details of the deal could wipe away what could be more than $100 million in back taxes, according to previous New York Times and ProP…

and the Trump Organization.It's unclear how much Trump owes the federal government in back taxes, but the latest details of the deal could wipe away what could be more than $100 million in back taxes, according to previous New York Times and ProPublica re…