What did Donald Trump do today?

He wrote himself a get-out-of-jail-for-tax-fraud-and-evasion-free card.

Contrary to popular belief, most extremely wealthy Americans do pay their taxes. The reason that many of the very richest Americans often end up paying a much lower rate than poor and middle-class citizens is that the tax code is written with loopholes only they can take advantage of. (Many of them were put there by Trump himself, and meant to benefit him primarily.)

Donald Trump, however, is the exception: he is, without question, one of the most flagrant tax cheats in American history, surpassing even his rival dabbler on the New York real estate scene, Leona Helmsley. Investigative reporting, criminal prosecutions of his businesses and his fraudulent charity, and a few tax returns that the public managed to see all tell the same story. The leaked data that formed the basis of Trump's recently settled lawsuit against the IRS for its "negligence" in letting a third party contractor see his returns during his first term didn't change that picture—it only confirmed what reporters had already learned. 

Most of this was already known in general terms during the 2016 campaign, which is why Trump—unlike every other major party candidate since Nixon—refused to release his tax returns for public inspection. But the scope was much worse than most voters had any reason to expect: if Trump had been honest about his tax returns and released them, they would have shown that he'd paid nothing at all in taxes for 10 of the previous 15 years, and only $750 in 2016. Even a part-time, minimum-wage employee would pay more than that.

Yesterday, the DOJ announced that Trump's executive branch had "agreed" to settle Trump's private lawsuit against the IRS, in exchange for a slush fund to pay off the convicted criminals who tried to help him throw out the results of the 2020 election. Today, it released another detail: it was permanently exempting Trump, his businesses, or his family members from any investigation or prosecution for tax crimes—forever.

As the memo signed by Acting Attorney General and former Trump defense attorney makes clear, that is not an exaggeration.

The United States RELEASES, WAIVES, ACQUITS, and FOREVER DISCHARGES each of the Plaintiffs from, and is hereby FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED from prosecuting or pursuing, any and all claims, counterclaims, causes of action, appeals, or requests for any relief, including injunctive relief, monetary relief, damages, examinations or similar or related reviews, appeals, debt relief, costs, attorney’s fees, expenses, and/or interest, whether presently known or unknown, that—as of the Effective Date of the Settlement Agreement—have been or could have been asserted by Defendants against any of the Plaintiffs or related or affiliated individuals (including, without limitation, family or others filing jointly), or parties including trusts, parent, sister, or related companies, affiliates, and subsidiaries, by reason of, with respect to, in connection with, or which arise out of (1) any matters that were raised or could have been raised in the Case or the Pending Agency Claims; (2) Lawfare and/or Weaponization; or (3) any matters currently pending or that could be pending (including tax returns filed before the Effective Date) before Defendants or other agencies or departments. 

Even ignoring the fact that Trump is writing himself a get-out-of-jail-free-card by agreeing on behalf of the government not to even begin an investigation into him as a private citizen, this document would save Trump enormous amounts of money in the future. Not only would it effectively incentivize him to commit ongoing tax fraud (which the IRS would be forbidden to take any notice of), it would save him from having to repay hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes he's already evaded.

Trump's promise not to investigate himself is not likely to be legally binding on future administrations.
 

Why does this matter?

• There is only one reason that a government official would try to exempt themselves from criminal investigation. 

• Even if he writes himself a note on Presidential letterhead saying that he is above the law, Donald Trump is not above the law.