Rep. McGarvey blasts Trump's IRS settlement as 'corrupt to the core'
Kentucky Congressman Morgan McGarvey is criticizing a newly released settlement involving President Donald Trump and the IRS, calling it "absolutely corrupt to the core."
McGarvey argues the agreement could shield Trump and his family from financial scrutiny and potential tax penalties.
Read more here | US government agrees to drop tax claims against Trump in broadening of IRS lawsuit settlement
Trump has long cited ongoing IRS audits as the reason he did not release his past tax returns. But that could change after his legal team reached a deal with the Justice Department this week that includes permanently dropping tax claims against the president, his family and associates.
Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, “I may even release my current returns.”
The settlement is meant to resolve Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns.
According to a one-page document posted to the Justice Department’s website Tuesday, the U.S. is “forever barred and precluded” from examining or prosecuting Trump, his sons and the Trump Organization’s current tax examinations.
The agreement also creates a $1.776 billion fund to compensate Trump allies who believe they were unjustly investigated and prosecuted.
McGarvey said, "The president sued himself, he settled with himself, he's paying himself $1.8 billion to give to his allies ... No person, including the president, should ever be above the law. ... That is just flat out wrong."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.