1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

I’m writing about the $10 billion lawsuit President Trump filed against the IRS, and the settlement talks his lawyers disclosed in a court filing on April 17. I’m asking you to publicly oppose any settlement and to join the oversight effort Senators Wyden and Warren began in February. The facts are straightforward. Trump sued the IRS over the 2019–2020 leak of his tax returns by a contractor who is already serving a five-year prison sentence. Trump is now the president. The attorney general, the deputy attorney general, and the treasury secretary all work for him. The people defending the government against this lawsuit answer to the person suing the government. Trump himself told reporters in January, “I’m supposed to work out a settlement with myself.” A $10 billion payout to the president from the agency he oversees would be one of the clearest conflicts of interest this country has seen. Former IRS Commissioner John Koskinen and former National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson have already warned the court that the suit risks becoming collusive litigation. Senators Wyden and Warren have demanded answers from Treasury and DOJ about whether career attorneys will actually defend taxpayers or roll over. You aren’t on the Finance Committee, so you don’t have their direct jurisdiction. But you’re California’s senior senator, and your voice carries. Here’s what I’m asking: Cosign the next Wyden-Warren oversight letter. Appear with them at press events. Make this a sustained story, not a one-news-cycle story. Use your Spanish-language platform — the one you used for the State of the Union response — to reach voters who otherwise won’t hear about this. Go on the Senate floor and name what’s happening: a sitting president negotiating a multi-billion-dollar payment to himself from the agency he controls. No single senator can block a settlement. But sustained public pressure is what makes DOJ lawyers push back internally and what makes the judge look harder at whatever agreement lands on the docket. That pressure has to come from somewhere. Please help provide it. Thank you for your time.