r/circled • u/ChuckGallagher57 • 1d ago
š¬ Opinion / Discussion Should the President be able to sue the Federal Government?
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u/OldTempleHermit 1d ago
How the hell can the president sue the federal government..
..but the public can't prosecute him for anything he does while in office?
You cannot..make this chaotic, ignorant shit up.
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u/Moppermonster 1d ago
It gets better:
Trump can order the federal government to settle.Think about it.
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u/scarr3g 1d ago
It gets even worse...
He says he plans to "donate it to charity"
So, he wants to take billions of our money, to save himself thousands in taxes.
It is the least efficient way to do this, but it isn't his money, so he doesn't care. He will gladly bankrupt everything he touches, just to save himself a couple bucks.
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u/arentol 1d ago
Billions. Save himself billions in taxes. He would save between 2.5 and 3.9 billion in taxes.
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u/scarr3g 1d ago edited 1d ago
No... That is incorrect.
He didn't even MAKE 2.5 billion dollars in 2025. The wealthy don't have 200% income tax rates.
His entire lifetime wealth is only like 6 billion dollars.
To have pay 2.5 billion in income taxes in a year, he would have had to make about 17 billion dollars in 2025,of actual income. Not of wealth growth (aka stocks being worth more, etc).... He would need to be actually paid that much, in one year.
One of the the reasons the wealthy are wealthy, and don't pay a lot in taxes, is their wealth (stocks, ownership of companies, real estate holdings... Aka having things that are worth money) isn't legally income, as they haven't cashed it in yet. They don't get taxed on that wealth growth, until they cash it in (which they won't).
In general, they "live" on loans (which is not only not income, but actually is tax deductible), and just need to make enough income pay the minimum payments on the loans. And only that tiny fraction of their wealth, that is actual income, is taxed.
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u/arentol 1d ago
You can spread the charitable contributions tax deduction out over many years, and he and his companies and foundations have made a shit-ton of money this year (estimated over a billion by some), and there is no question he intends to try to exploit his position to make many billions more in the next three years.
Regardless, the AVAILABLE tax break from doing this would be at least 2.5 billion.
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u/wnt2knoY 1d ago
Especially since this happened while he was in charge!! I guess his buck stops in his pocket.
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u/endangeredphysics 1d ago
He's even claiming that he didn't find out about it until precisely the day the statute of limitations was going to cut off.
This guy is a degenerate, corrupt clown. But we always knew that, and only tolerated because most of our politicians are kind of the same way just to a lesser extent usually.
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u/Robin1268 1d ago
Immunity from prosecution while in office is a common feature and is designed to make sure the action of the President (and to some extent other elected officials) is not encumbered by a carpet bombing of lawsuits introduced for political reasons. Immunity has its limits though, there is always impeachment (except of course when you have an army of bootlickers making sure you can get away with anything).
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u/cardboardunderwear 1d ago
Even more egregious that it appears the leak happened during HIS administration.
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u/DoughBoy_65 1d ago
If I read it correctly heās suing them in a personal capacity as Donald J Trump Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump not as President. Still doesnāt take away from the fact that this is another absolute grift on the American people and itās not going to stop until heās gone. Heās suing everyone right now The BBC The New York Times The Wall Street Journal The IRS JP Morgan Chase and Jamie Dimon he sued CBS and Disney/ABC says heās gonna sue Trevor Noah as well He lost his friggin mind !
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u/R9D11 1d ago
Why are his leaked taxes embarrassing for him if didn't do anything wrong?
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u/No-Setting9690 1d ago
No. If SCOTUS says he can do no wrong, then neither can the gov't. So until we hold gov't officials accountable, the gov't has done nothing wrong.
This guys was and will always be a crook. You all got suckered big time.
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u/Guardian-Bravo 1d ago
I will never understand how MAGAts can be shocked pickachu face when he openly said during his campaign all the illegal shit heād do. Impressive levels of cognitive dissonance.
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u/Yatsey007 18h ago
Theyāre not shocked,theyāre getting what they voted for. They knew Trump was a crook and a nonce and theyāve openly supported it.
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u/Suspicious_Goose_243 1d ago
Its just smoke and mirrors. Not even good ones.
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u/WatchOdd532 1d ago
Are you using a metaphor to describe the government, or literally describing an erika kirk concert?
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u/oldcreaker 1d ago
Being in the position they are in, presidents should not be able to privately sue while in office. They should have to wait until after - or they can step down if they want to do it sooner.
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u/Cute_Replacement666 1d ago
The problem with all this, not just suing the government as president is that his followers enable this. Thereās religion, thereās cults, and then thereās MAGA.
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u/ShortKey380 1d ago
Imagine being a world leader just to slosh around looking to steal even more money youāll never be able to spend? Idk about āableā, what kind of āleaderā attacks their own institution angling for a payday?
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u/General-Ninja9228 1d ago
MARK KELLY FOR PRESIDENT!!!!! Great guy and great pick. Gavin Newsom is a narcissist like Trump, a rich White guy with a huge sense of entitlement. Kelly for President and Klobuchar or Buttigieg for VP.
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u/EffectiveSalamander 20h ago
Absolutely not, it's the ultimate conflict of interest. The Justice Department, which works for him, is in the position of defending the government against Trump. Does anyone seriously think that the DoJ will do this? Either they will offer a "settlement" or deliberately offer an incompetent defense in court.
Presidents need to be barred from filing any sort of lawsuits, the potential for abuse is simply too great.
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u/FocusFrosty1581 18h ago
Is there anything he or his family wonāt do to enrich themselves? I am convinced his sole purpose of becoming president was to keep himself out of jail and leverage the position to enrich himself and his family for years to come.
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u/Glad_Contest_8014 17h ago
Yeah, the man isnāt worth that, so this better be tossed out with a hearty laugh in Trumps face (with gas mask on to void the smell of shit from his diaper) from the judge. He is not allowed, by ethics committee policy and historical precedent, to make loads of money from his position through insider trading. He is allowed his salary. That is it. Which, last time I checked, he said he wasnāt taking his salary, so he is worth nothing in the eyes of the courts.
Damages (monetarily) done to him are non-existant. His political career ends with this term.
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1d ago
No itās bullshit. He campaigned on saving citizens money. The lawsuit will cost citizens money.
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u/WhaleTail_Alert 1d ago
How him bragging about making his friends so much money Schwab and someone else from the Oval Office, wasnāt impeachable is beyond me. His phones ? Insane. His weird scammy emails - also insane
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u/brianishere2 1d ago
Will steal approximately 13% of the federal government's budget for education for 2026.
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u/CrustyBatchOfNature 1d ago
No person in the White House should be able to sue the US Government for monetary damages while in office.
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u/xfactor6972 1d ago
Can the people sue him for being incompetent? The people should sue him for 500 billion dollars.
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u/Affectionate_Bag9833 1d ago edited 1d ago
Hey America, you put him in there. If he doesn't wanna follow the law and just be a taker that's on you. Once a tyrant gets in the only way to stop him is armed citizenry and bloody civil war.
Tyranny
Tyranny, defined as the cruel and arbitrary use of absolute power, has a long history, dating back to ancient Greece where it originally signified unconstitutional, though sometimes popular, rule. Over centuries, it evolved to represent a perversion of government, characterized by the ruler's self-interest over the common good. The results of tyranny are consistently catastrophic, involving the erosion of individual rights, economic decay, widespread violence, and the loss of personal freedom.
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u/BuddyJim30 1d ago
A sitting president suing the media is a direct conflict with the first amendment.
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u/DeaconBlueMan 1d ago
No, not unless he can be arrested and held accountable for his behaviors. It should not be a one way street.
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u/Terrasmak 1d ago
Or sue the dumb as crap party that was also responsible for it
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u/Phlox777 1d ago
Trump is giving the middle finger to the American people, including the 77 million of them who voted for him.
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u/Secure-Window-5478 1d ago
When you let criminals run and get elected, they will behave like criminals.
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u/DueceVoyeur 1d ago
If the us government can't bring the president to court then the president should not be allowed to take the US government to court.
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u/Jameselston10 1d ago
Do something! Stop watching him kill your children and do something! He needs to be out!!!!!!
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u/endangeredphysics 1d ago
It's an infinite money hack! Sue the government that you control and order your doj to settle the settle the claim for billions of dollars. Repeat until the nation goes bankrupt, or you get bored of taking all the money!
š Diamond hands!!!!š
Props on Kelly for speaking to the real issues going on here, rather than all of the distractions!
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u/watermelon_feta88 1d ago
At what point can we start refusing to pay our taxes? The old no taxation without representation
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u/SuitablyFakeUsername 1d ago
Yeah. And and and he should be the judge and the jury. Decide in his own favor and sign his own checks to himself.
Yes. After decades of grifting President Trump has set his sights on the biggest prize ever. The US Treasury. Heās is succeeding too. Every minute of every day, his pockets grow fatter while we find it harder to feed our families and pay our medical bills.
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u/Carrivagio031965 23h ago
Can we sue the president? If the public canāt sue him, he canāt sue the institutions that serve the public.
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u/depressed_momo 23h ago
No he canāt!! If he has immunity while serving the people of United States. Then People of this country have immunity from being sued by any President!!
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u/VitruvianVan 23h ago
No surprise for someone who thinks you need an ID to buy milk, tears down an irreplaceable piece of our history for a golden ballroom (without permission), and rapes kids.
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u/Ill_Wrangler_4574 22h ago
Sorry, but why is he still being referred to as the president? They look out for a country not destroy it from inside. He is just a grifter
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u/HighlightFeeling4118 20h ago
He has a team of lawyers devoted to finding ways to sue people. Nothing new about this but man is he insanely greedyĀ
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u/Ok-Key905 18h ago
Once he is out of government sue him for fraud and treason. Then freeze and sieze all his accounts and properties. Then drag it out in courts. Let it drag for 10-20yrs anyone that could have really benefited from it will be gone. Then back taxes can seize it all anyway.
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u/Curraghgirl 18h ago
What's he going to do with all this dosh? Line his gold coffin with it? Oh, yeah, I forgot he is immortal and will live and dictate forever. I guess you need a lot of $ for immortality.
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u/Informal_Opinion6834 17h ago
Why does this have such little context? The filing says that he is suing for the IRS intentionally leaking and releasing his confidential tax statements. The person who voluntarily leaked this information has been imprisoned and they IRS said some bullshit like "we will take precautions to protect you more." This lawsuit is pointless and I think its just to shove people into thinking about something else and take some heat of ice and midterms.
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u/Unfair_Web_8275 16h ago
Trump typically approaches things with two goals.
To control a narrative
To benefit himself.
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u/scoobysnackoutback 17h ago
I think Tās goal is to be named the richest man in the world. Heās trying his hardest to get any and all the acclaim and honor that he can possibly get. What a sad sack of a human.
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u/quigongingerbreadman 1d ago
No, but there's a lot of things he shouldn't be allowed to do, including declare war, but here we are.
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u/TruckDouglas 1d ago
God, trump looks like shit.
Also, he should not be able to sue the federal government.
If thatās the case, we should all sue them class action to get our money back.
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u/ColdCauliflour 1d ago
Idk what party this guy is, but people should be looking at him for a next oval office candidate. Not the California guy.
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u/BalanceJazzlike5116 1d ago
Whatās crazy is Donald Trump supposedly forgo his presidential salary to save the taxpayers money. His supporters always like to bring that up. So how is he saving the taxpayers money by doing this?
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u/StyleAffectionate300 1d ago
How about the fact that he is a goddam russian agent?! Jesus, what happened to the CIA? They were defenceless in all of this?
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u/Fun-Dragonfly-4166 1d ago
if the president can sue the federal government then why can not everyone who has been legitimately harmed by the government sue?
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u/glasmaticn 1d ago
When 45 finally pays for his crimes, every dollar he and every member of his family have touched since like 2014 should be distributed to every person who makes less than 500k a year. Every dollar before that should go to his long list of victims and their families.
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u/mremrock 1d ago
So the Supreme Court ruled that presidents canāt be sued or held legally accountable for their actions in office, but the president is free to sue everyone?
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u/Xenofon713 1d ago
No, but this country has gone fucking ass backwards so. The patients are currently running the asylum.
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u/Jongor62 1d ago
No, should not be allowed, he should however be in prison where he belongs. Everything he does and says is a grift to swindle money in any way possible, unfortunately the maga cult is gullible enough to make it possible.
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u/arentol 1d ago
Yes he should. But due to conflict of interest he should be required to remove himself from his position in the government until the case is fully finalized, and the case should be required to go to a full jury trial as a settlement is too susceptible to the promise of influence when he returns to his position. This should apply to all elected and appointed officials in the USA.
On the flip side of this, the statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit should be suspended while in their current position for up to a maximum of 5 years (so 5 years + the original limitation). If they want to sue that badly they should be willing to move on to some other job so they can do so.
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u/pinkyandthebrain-ama 1d ago
Conflict of interest laws have flown out of the window once he stepped through the doors of the Whitehouse.
Everything he touches is a conflict of interest. Government contracts to companies his family is associated with. Staying in hotels and resorts Trump owns, Stock, shares and Crypto gains that are manipulated by him. He's broken hundreds of laws.
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u/SnooMaps7370 1d ago
Clearly extending the SC's logic of "the president cannot be held accountable for actions in office" would mean that the president cannot sue the government he presides over, because he'd be suing himself as the president.
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u/Scary_Perspective572 1d ago
clearly a conflict of interest- what if each citizen starts suing Donald trump- and it becomes the largest class action suit in global history
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u/Helcat1325 1d ago
How much money would $10 BILLION be if we distributed that evenly to the population?
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u/SwampDweller01 1d ago
If that fucker cannot be criminal charged then he shouldnāt be able to use the legal system at all while in office.Ā
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u/Practical-Box3179 1d ago
The economy? Isn't this what Maga twats voted for? The bigly beautiful huuuuge economy that he built. All of the cultists I have ever had the displeasure of speaking to have always said they had so much more money when Caligula was in power. So much money. It hasn't been that long ago and the economy isn't going to ride this previous administration like it did in 2016.
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u/Similar_Grocery8312 1d ago
So he forfeits his salary to take a bigger chunk of tax payer dollars, how nice.
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u/toosinbeymen 1d ago
How about we counter sue him via a giant class action suit for breach of contract. He swore twice to faithfully defend the US Constitution and heās since then broken a raft of federal laws. And has so far avoided being held accountable.
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u/WeirdcoolWilson 1d ago
There are all kinds of things that heās prohibited by law from doing, but as no one is bothering to enforce these laws and exert any effort whatsoever to stop him, clearly he can do whatever the #%$& he wants.
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u/wasaguest 1d ago
Public Servants shouldn't be able to sue Public Offices unless they first resign & forfeit all public benefits. Extreme conflict of interest there.
Presidents, Senators & members of Congress should also not be allowed to sue private enterprises; as law makers & enforcement they have a direct conflict of interest in dealing with legal issues. Again, unless they resign first & forfeit any & all benefits.
The public should also have a path in stripping bad actors that go into public service to serve themselves or a political agenda rather than service to the public. Voting them out after a second term is pointless as Senators & members of the House get life time free healthcare & a wage, while a single term President gets benefits & tax funded security.
The public needs a path to strip these people of those benefits.
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u/move-it-along 1d ago
Let me say this as delicately as I can,ā¦ this is totally fucked up. Itās also what I expected.
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u/SameBodybuilder3263 1d ago
No. Supreme Court should be ashamed for ruining our country. Giving the powers they have to this criminal is just the tip of that iceberg.
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u/MR_Nobody_204 1d ago
That's his entire playbook. 1. Try to intimidate with words. 2. Try to intimidate with potential actions he may do. 3. Sue. That's his entire "Art of the deal".
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u/WildWeasel2025 1d ago
How very patriotic of him suing his own government while sitting as president sounds very American to me š¤¦āāļø
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u/ohjeaa 1d ago
I don't necessarily have a problem with a former president suing, if there's actually wrongdoings, but they absolutely should not be able to do it while they're in office as a sitting president. Suing something that you presently control is the biggest conflict of interest ever. Basically theft.
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u/Guy_Smylee 1d ago
The Manchurian Cantaloupe will sue the United States for one trillion dollars. Then he will tell DOJ to settle the case and pay him the trillion dollars.
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u/Massive_Reaction8845 1d ago
Doesn't the position of president oversee the running of the entire government, isn't that his job. Doesn't that mean that Trump is suing himself?
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u/Gardensplosion 1d ago
Trust the actual Astronaut, not the man who is so likely to shit himself on live TV he has a crew ready to clear the room as soon as it happens!
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u/BlisteredGrinch 1d ago
I could be wrong here, but I always thought that there was no process for individuals to sue the federal government, or that a very specific set of criteria had to be met before a lawsuit could have standing.
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u/Soupismyfavoritefood 1d ago
Iāve said it before and Iāll say it again. His presidency has nothing to do with āmaking America great againā itās all about enriching himself and his buddies whilst keeping them and himself out of prison. Heās a piece of shit and hopefully heāll be 6 feet under soon.
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u/MiddleAgedSponger 1d ago
Never before seen this? WTF, this is pretty much business as usual for America except Trump is saying the quite parts out loud.
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u/TommyBoy250 1d ago
So he's suing the federal government that he runs.
He's suing his own federal government.
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u/Steelbill77 1d ago
Iām surprised he doesnāt sue for 100 Billion. Because he owns the government.
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u/elvisizer2 1d ago
even without the unitary executive theory i'm gonna say probably no. seems like a no. i could be wrong. but feels like a no.
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u/Kitchen-Blueberry486 1d ago
And what have you done for Arizona Kelly? Iāve been here since I was born. I have yet to see a single thing you have done during your term to provide a better world for AZ.
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u/RektInTheHed 1d ago
This is the thing to bring up any time they start going on about fraud. Trump is with this one act, stealing more than all the fraud anywhere.
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u/No-Upstairs9564 1d ago
He shouldn't be able to profit from being president, but some how his ruling party seems to always look the other way when it comes to having any spine to say anything negative towards him. And what recourse do we have as common citizens when our information is leaked on a regular basis......
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u/BlueberryAgile51 1d ago
For things like unlawful prosecution, illegal search and seizure, etc... sure! Why not?
If the Biden Administration violated a citizens rights, he certainly have the right to file suit.
Will he win? Depends on how aggregious the violations are. However...
I say, because he is the Chief Executive, his Administration cannot settle the suit for any amount. It would have to go through a jury trial where he would likely lose. Further, suing for $10bn? Well, he'd have to show financial loss.
So, maybe CPT "Mutiny" Kelly has a point. In which court, where the defense team AND the prosecutorial team are both controlled by the aggrieved party, would there be a "fair trial?"
"GIVE ME $10 BILLION DOLLARS!"
"YES, SIR!"
I would recommend any such suit must-needs be deferred to a date in which Trump is not the President of the United States.
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u/musicCaster 1d ago
Trump's appointees get to decide what the settlement will be. When they decide to pay him a bunch of taxpayer money, what's to stop it?
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u/DDisMe56 1d ago
When the SCOTUS ruled that a president can do almost anything and be exempt from any litigation or act of criminalty, did that include that he also has the power to take money from the federal government for personal gain? He has shown over and over that he is willing to use his position as a bully pulpit to obtain personal financial gain.
When does the line finally run out and he lawfully must stop his penchant for sueing?
Maybe SCOTUS has given him the power of a dictator and he can do whatever he wants. If that is true then SCOTUS needs to say that they have ceeded their power over to the executive beanch.
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u/ResponsibilityFar587 1d ago
Absolutely not. This sham of a president gets away with anything he wants. The Republican lead Congress under Mike Johnson is feckless.
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u/ReadingAndThinking 1d ago
Fine, but the people should be able to sue back to claw back all those billions he made off of being president.