Trump swears he'll donate winnings in $10 billion lawsuit against his own IRS

President Donald Trump told NBC News' Tom Llamas in an interview released on Wednesday that he has no interest in actually keeping any money he wins from his lawsuit against his own Internal Revenue Service — and would give the money away if he gets any.

“Scott Bessent is the head of the IRS. Pam Bondi is the head of the DOJ," said Llamas in a clip flagged by The Bulwark. "They're going to defend the IRS against you ... Are you going to tell them to pay you? You're the boss.”

“What I would do, tell them to pay me, but I'll give 100 percent of the money to charity," said Trump. "I don't want any of the money.”

Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS alleges that the agency failed to properly protect his privacy by allowing his tax returns to leak during the 2020 election. "Defendants have caused Plaintiffs reputational and financial harm, public embarrassment, unfairly tarnished their business reputations, portrayed them in a false light, and negatively affected President Trump, and the other Plaintiffs’ public standing," said the complaint.

Notably, Trump had promised voters he would release his tax returns himself during the 2016 election, something virtually all presidential candidates for the past several decades have done, but spent years coming up with various excuses and dodges to avoid doing so.

The president has frequently tried to make show out of not taking a salary as president, despite the fact that he and his family have seized on numerous ethically questionable ways to enrich their businesses and allies with official government actions — one of the most brazen recent examples being the Trump family's cryptocurrency venture.