Democrats seek to bar presidents from collecting settlement money from the government [View all]
Source: NBC News
April 15, 2026, 6:00 AM EDT / Updated April 15, 2026, 1:46 PM EDT
Democratic lawmakers will introduce a bill Wednesday to ban the president, vice president and their families from collecting lawsuit settlement payments from the government.
The bill, dubbed the "Ban Presidential Plunder of Taxpayer Funds Act," comes after President Donald Trump sued the IRS and the Treasury Department for $10 billion over the leak of his tax records, and those of his sons and his company, to news outlets. Trump said he would donate any money he received to charity, but the lawsuit enraged critics who argued that any money he might receive from a settlement would come from taxpayers.
Months earlier, Trump acknowledged he was seeking damages from the Justice Department, saying, "I guess they owe me a lot of money.". Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Rep. Dave Min of California are introducing the bill in their respective chambers.
The bill, shared with NBC News, would ban the president, the vice president, their spouses and children and any trust "that exists for their benefit" or "entity they own or control" from collecting payments as part of a settlement agreement, which parties sometimes reach in order to avoid going to court.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/democrats-bill-bar-trump-settlement-money-from-government-irs-treasury-rcna331682
Link to House Judiciary Democrats PRESS RELEASE - Raskin, Warren, Schumer, Min Introduce New Bill to Stop President, VP from Abusing Power to Steal Taxpayer Funds
Link to draft BILL (1-pager) (PDF) - https://www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/one-pager_-_ban_presidential_plunder_of_taxpayer_funds_act.pdf
Link to draft BILL (PDF) - https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/mm_01_xml.pdf
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