{"text":[[{"start":7.75,"text":"US tax authorities will be barred from pursuing claims against Donald Trump, his eldest sons and the Trump Organization under an agreement to halt the president’s $10bn lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. "}],[{"start":21.4,"text":"The pledge by the Department of Justice on Tuesday came a day after Trump agreed to settle his lawsuit against the IRS in exchange for the US government launching a $1.8bn fund for victims of alleged “lawfare”. "}],[{"start":34.2,"text":"“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,” wrote acting attorney-general Todd Blanche in a one-page document released on Tuesday, in relation to the case brought in January by Trump, his sons Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization."}],[{"start":58.85,"text":"A DoJ spokesperson told the FT that the decision to bar the IRS from pursuing claims against Trump was “only with respect to any existing audits”."}],[{"start":68.15,"text":"“There would be little point in settling several significant claims if either party could simply turn around and seek to initiate more adverse claims that could have been pursued previously,” added the spokesperson."}],[{"start":81.60000000000001,"text":"Danny Werfel, an IRS commissioner under former president Joe Biden, noted, however, that he was “unaware of a single precedent where the IRS has agreed in advance to permanently forgo examination of previously filed tax returns for a specific person or business”."}],[{"start":100.10000000000001,"text":"He added: “Whether you are the President or Joe the Plumber, people expect the same tax rules and enforcement framework to apply to everybody.”"}],[{"start":108.50000000000001,"text":"The DoJ’s move on Monday to launch the fund for people who say they are victims of unfair investigations and prosecutions under previous administrations drew strong criticism from Democrats and scepticism from some Republicans on Capitol Hill. "}],[{"start":122.60000000000001,"text":"Patty Murray, a Democratic senator, accused Trump on Tuesday of setting up a “slush fund to enrich his own friends”."}],[{"start":129.75,"text":"“What we are talking about is nothing short of the sitting president of the United States looting from the Treasury for his own gain,” she said. "}],[{"start":138,"text":"John Thune, the top Republican in the US Senate, said that “there are, and will be, continue to be, a lot of questions” about the agreement between the DoJ and Trump."}],[{"start":148.75,"text":"Trump had said on Monday that he did not play a role in setting up the fund and knew “very little about it”."}],[{"start":154.8,"text":"Asked whether he or his family members would receive compensation from the fund, Trump said payouts would be “determined by a committee of four or five people that are respected and very brilliant at what they do”."}],[{"start":168,"text":"Vice-president JD Vance added at a press conference on Tuesday that “we’re trying to compensate people where the book was thrown at them [and] they were mistreated by the legal system”. "}],[{"start":178.2,"text":"“We’re going to evaluate these things on a case-by-case basis . . . if we think that somebody was unfairly prosecuted and deserves just compensation, then that is what this fund exists to provide.”"}],[{"start":187.89999999999998,"text":"Michael Caputo, who served in the first Trump administration, sent a letter to Blanche on Tuesday requesting $2.7mn “in restitution and reimbursement” from the fund, claiming that the “machinery of government was clearly weaponized against my family” from 2016 to 2025, starting with the FBI’s investigation into links between Russia and Trump’s first presidential campaign."}],[{"start":211.39999999999998,"text":"Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS was filed in January and stemmed from the disclosure of tax documents leaked by a former IRS contractor to several media outlets and organisations in 2019 and 2020."}],[{"start":225.14999999999998,"text":"The Trump Organization said the settlement “seeks to provide meaningful accountability” for the IRS’s “systemic failure” that resulted in “unlawful disclosure” of tax information for the president, his sons and 500 Trump Organization-affiliated entities."}],[{"start":248.14999999999998,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1779258208_3786.mp3"}