Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player Open Navigation Menu --> Newsletters NPR Shop Close Navigation Menu Home News Expand/collapse submenu for News National World Politics Business Health Science Climate Race Culture Expand/collapse submenu for Culture Books Movies Television Pop Culture Food Art & Design Performing Arts Life Kit Gaming Music Expand/collapse submenu for Music Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions Podcasts & Shows Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows Daily Morning Edition Weekend Edition Saturday Weekend Edition Sunday All Things Considered Up First Here & Now NPR Politics Podcast Featured Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Planet Money Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics Rep. Tom Suozzi calls Trump's settlement with the IRS 'completely bogus' NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Congressman Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., about President Trump's settlement with the IRS. Politics Rep. Tom Suozzi calls Trump's settlement with the IRS 'completely bogus' May 26, 20264:46 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition Steve Inskeep Rep. Tom Suozzi calls Trump's settlement with the IRS 'completely bogus' Listen · 6:53 6:53 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5831352/nx-s1-9785004" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Congressman Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., about President Trump's settlement with the IRS. Sponsor Message
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Lawmakers from both parties are moving to block President Trump's settlement with himself. The president of the United States sued the United States over the leak of his tax returns. Last week, the president of the United States then settled with the United States. The Justice Department, that acts at his direction, decided to give Trump 1.776 billion taxpayer dollars. The fund would go to people the president's appointees deemed to have been targeted by the government. A bipartisan group in Congress objects. They include Republican representative Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, who spoke with NPR's Here & Now.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BRIAN FITZPATRICK: Well, it's wrong on multiple fronts, morally and legally. So where do we begin, right? Let's start with this. The executive branch does not have any money in their own right. Every dime that they have is appropriated to them by Article 1, by Congress, by us.
INSKEEP: That's one Republican view. Fitzpatrick is part of a group called the Problem Solvers Caucus, which also includes Democrat Tom Suozzi of New York, who's on the line. Congressman, welcome.
THOMAS SUOZZI: Hey, Steve. How's it going?
INSKEEP: First, I want to understand what the administration says happened here. Does the administration have available money that Congress already set aside for court judgments or lawsuits of this sort?
SUOZZI: Well, the federal government, the executive branch, does have money available for settlements, usually for, like, slip and fall cases and other types of cases that you can't have Congress voting on every single settlement that takes place. But this is really pushing it to an absurd extreme, where the president is saying, I want $1.8 billion. I want to have my people hand it out, and it'll go to people that I think have been wronged by the government, like the people who committed the insurrection on January 6 and were prosecuted and found to be guilty, and then the president pardoned them. It's crazy and absurd.
INSKEEP: I guess we should note the White House has insisted they are not necessarily giving money to January 6 rioters, but some of those rioters that we've heard from at NPR are eagerly anticipating or talking about applying for the money. But what can you...
SUOZZI: Well, they've also - Steve, they've also said they're not ruling it out.
INSKEEP: True.
SUOZZI: I mean, that's an important...
INSKEEP: Absolutely.
SUOZZI: That's an important - I mean, I - this is what makes my blood boil. I mean, I was very upset. I try to work across party lines. I try not to get outraged about every single thing that the White House does. But one thing I do get outraged about is when he pardoned the people from January 6. I was there on January 6. And one case that I - keeps on sticking in my craw is about a guy that's standing there while they're beating up a police officer, and they're saying, kill him, kill him. And this guy, Daniel Rodriguez, takes a taser and sticks it in the police officer's neck. The police officer has a heart attack and has traumatic brain injury as a result. The guy who did this goes on his social media and says, I just tased the you-know-what, expletive, expletive out of the blue, and I got away with it. Well, he didn't get away with it. He was prosecuted and he was sentenced to 12 years in prison. President Trump pardoned him along with hundreds of other people, over 1,500 people that were there on January 6. It's absurd that they could now try and apply to the federal government for money.
INSKEEP: Well, let's talk about the legality of this. I know that you and others have introduced legislation that would bar federal appropriations to be used for this fund, but I want to understand what you think the law is. Is it straight-up illegal right now for the administration to start giving out that money absent any act of Congress?
SUOZZI: I think there'll be two sides to the story in the courts. The executive branch, the president will say, hey, I can do this under this existing statute, which gives me the right to settle cases. And then there will be other people like myself and others who will go to the federal courts, and they will say, no, he was on both sides of this case. He cannot settle a case like this, and it was illegal for him to do it in the first place to try and settle a case where he was both the plaintiff and the defendant.
INSKEEP: Are you going to have trouble getting into court on this? The court's just going to say, if Congress doesn't like it, they can pass a law.
SUOZZI: No, I don't think that's the case because in this instance, the courts were ready to dismiss the president's case against the federal government because he was on both sides of the case. As a matter of fact, I think the settlement is completely bogus.
INSKEEP: Now, there's another provision in this settlement. The IRS is barred from pursuing any claims against President Trump, his family or his businesses for their past activity. But as I understand it, in perpetuity. Is that legal?
SUOZZI: I don't think it's legal. In matter of fact, we're looking at passing - getting another piece of legislation that would bar that outright as well. I mean, the bottom line is, is this is going to become a matter for the November elections. People are upset about the skyrocketing costs, and they don't like the idea of the president creating a $1.8 billion fund to pay off his cronies, and they don't like the idea of the president doing a billion-dollar ballroom, and they don't like the idea that the president is not focused on their real-life problems. The president is not showing any empathy for what people are going through right now.
INSKEEP: Let me try as hard as I can to see this from the other side. Let's say there's somebody who was prosecuted after January 6. They really were at the Capitol, but they sincerely feel - and we've interviewed people who say this - where they sincerely feel the government went too far in their case, was unfair to them in their case, and they would like some form of redress. What is the - in your view, the legitimate, the appropriate way for them to go about that?
SUOZZI: There's - just go through the court system as a system of - the rule of law in the United States of America that has a system whereby people can seek redress from their government for the overreaching actions of their government. The idea of having some five-person board appointed by the president to determine how to give away taxpayer money to people that he feels have been aggrieved is just wrong.
INSKEEP: Do you have any indication that the Republican leadership of the House or Senate are going to allow a vote on the measures that you've put forward?
SUOZZI: You know, Congressman Fitzpatrick and I have been working together to try and do things together for some time now, and we've been successful in getting 218 signatures, typically, 212 or 13 or 14 Democrats and a few Republicans to sign a discharge petition, and that forces something to come to the floor. I think that there are enough Republicans that are fed up with this $1.8 billion fund that they're going to sign on to something like this, but that's something we won't know for a couple of weeks as we seek support from our colleagues to try and do this.
INSKEEP: Yeah. And we'll just note people know from the Epstein files a discharge petition can take months. When you look at the calendar, can you imagine that unfolding across the summer and fall at the same time that people are running for reelection?
SUOZZI: I think it's likely that once they get closer to the election, and they have to face the voters and once the primaries are open, it'll be more likely that people will do what they think is right.
INSKEEP: Congressman Tom Suozzi of New York. Thanks so much.
SUOZZI: OK, Steve. Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Facebook Flipboard Email Read & Listen Home News Culture Music Podcasts & Shows Connect Newsletters Facebook Instagram Press Public Editor Corrections Transcripts Contact & Help About NPR Overview Diversity NPR Network Accessibility Ethics Finances Get Involved Support Public Radio Sponsor NPR NPR Careers NPR Shop NPR Extra Terms of Use Privacy Your Privacy Choices Text Only Sponsor Message Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor (function () { var loadPageJs = function () { (window.webpackJsonp=window.webpackJsonp||[]).push([[22],{1169:function(e,n,c){e.exports=c(321)},321:function(e,n,c){"use strict";c.p=NPR.serverVars.webpackPublicPath,Promise.all([c.e(1),c.e(2),c.e(3),c.e(4),c.e(82)]).then(function(e){c(3),c(1141),c(116),c(95),c(52),c(491),c(240),c(102),c(104),c(1142),c(144),c(1143),c(239),c(48),c(1144)}.bind(null,c)).catch(c.oe)}},[[1169,0]]]); }; if (document.readyState === 'complete') { loadPageJs(); } else { window.addEventListener('load', function load() { window.removeEventListener('load', load, false); loadPageJs(); }); } })();