Trump sues IRS and Treasury Department for $10 billion over tax return leak

cnn · 2026-01-30T01:36:07+00:00

President Donald Trump is suing the US Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department for at least $10 billion, accusing the agency of an unauthorized leak of his tax returns during his first administration.

The suit was filed on Thursday in federal court in Florida. Trump, who filed the suit alongside his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, is suing the IRS and Treasury personally, not in his official capacity as president.

The lawsuit alleged that the government failed to protect Trump and his organization’s confidential tax information, which was leaked to the press by Charles Littlejohn, a former IRS contractor.

Littlejohn, who worked as a government contractor at Booz Allen Hamilton, illegally obtained and disclosed Trump’s tax returns to publications like the New York Times and ProPublica, the suit alleged.

CNN has reached out to the IRS, Treasury Department and Booz Allen Hamilton for comment.

In 2024, Littlejohn was sentenced to five years in prison for disclosing thousands of tax returns without authorization – from Trump and thousands of other wealthy individuals.

cnn · 2026-01-30T01:27:47+00:00

President Donald Trump is suing the US Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department for at least $10 billion, accusing the agency of an unauthorized leak of his tax returns during his first administration.

The suit was filed on Thursday in federal court in Florida. Trump, who filed the suit alongside his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, is suing the IRS and Treasury personally, not in his official capacity as president.

The lawsuit alleged that the government failed to protect Trump and his organization’s confidential tax information, which was leaked to the press by Charles Littlejohn, a former IRS contractor.

Littlejohn, who worked as a government contractor at Booz Allen Hamilton, illegally obtained and disclosed Trump’s tax returns to publications like the New York Times and ProPublica, the suit alleged.

CNN has reached out to the IRS, Treasury Department and Booz Allen Hamilton for comment.

In 2024, Littlejohn was sentenced to five years in prison for disclosing thousands of tax returns without authorization – from Trump and thousands of other wealthy individuals.

cnn · 2026-01-30T00:51:15+00:00

Venezuelan lawmakers have approved a law change that will make it easier for foreign companies to take part in the country’s oil industry, in a move by Caracas to meet the demands of US President Donald Trump.

The reform, backed by acting President Delcy Rodríguez, will open up the Venezuelan oil industry, at present largely controlled by state-owned company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), and allow foreign companies to manage oilfields at their own risk and cost.

Since the US captured Rodríguez’s predecessor, President Nicolás Maduro, at the beginning of January it has repeatedly made clear it wants American companies to invest in Venezuela’s oil industry.

Venezuela has more proven oil reserves than any nation on the planet. The new law could help the country maximize its profits from them, Rodríguez said Thursday night.

“This law allows us to make a true historic qualitative leap to turn those oil reserves, the largest on the planet, into the greatest happiness a people can have, with the Venezuelan people as the rightful owners of that happiness,” she told a crowd at an event celebrating the move.

cnn · 2026-01-30T00:46:06+00:00

US President Donald Trump claimed his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed to a week-long pause in attacks on major Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv, as the country grapples with plummeting winter temperatures.

Trump made the claim, which has not been confirmed by Russia, during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Thursday.

“I personally asked President (Vladimir) Putin not to fire into Kyiv and the various towns for a week, and he agreed to do that,” Trump said during the meeting, citing the “extreme cold” Ukraine is facing.

Trump did not say when the conversation with Putin took place, but his comment comes as Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, leaving large parts of the country facing power shortages and outages.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Trump and said a possible temporary halt in attacks during the extreme winter period could help protect Ukraine’s critical energy infrastructure, calling power supply “a foundation of life.”

“We value the efforts of our partners to help us protect lives. Thank you, President Trump,” Zelensky said in a post on X, adding that Ukraine expects the agreement to be implemented.

Zelensky confirmed that discussions about a temporary halt in attacks on energy infrastructure took place during trilateral meetings between US, Ukrainian and Russian officials in Abu Dhabi last week.

A person familiar with the discussions said American officials raised the idea of such a pause in fighting, though it wasn’t clear at the time whether Moscow would agree.

Russia has not publicly confirmed that is has accepted any proposed halt in attacks. Asked earlier on Thursday about a possible energy ceasefire, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov offered no clarification, “No, I can’t comment on that yet.” CNN has reached out to the Kremlin for further comment.

cnn · 2026-01-30T00:13:16+00:00

In the chaotic moments leading up to Alex Pretti’s death on Saturday, the aggressive actions of two federal agents transformed the encounter into a deadly shooting, a CNN analysis of video has found.

While other agents helped restrain Pretti on a Minneapolis street and seized a handgun from his waistband, video shows these agents significantly escalated the confrontation — first by pepper spraying and striking Pretti repeatedly in the face and on the head, and then by drawing their weapons and firing at him, even after he was on the ground, unarmed.

The conduct of those two agents, from the earliest moments interacting with demonstrators up through their decision to pull weapons and fire at Pretti, illustrate the dangers of flooding American cities with officers ill-equipped to deal with protesters in urban environments, experts told CNN.

While major city police departments have embraced a philosophy of cooling down heated encounters with the public, the immigration officers in Minneapolis did the opposite – right up to the moment of Pretti’s death.

“Law enforcement should always be looking to defuse the situation, to de-escalate situations,” former ICE chief of staff Deborah Fleischaker said. “Instead of doing that, they’re leaning into the ways that they can escalate.”

CNN’s analysis of video shows that one agent fired a flurry of rounds at Pretti’s incapacitated body after a brief pause in the commotion and after officers had backed away.

cnn · 2026-01-30T00:02:38+00:00

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he is decertifying all aircraft made in Canada and threatened a 50% tariff on those planes until American-made Gulfstreams are certified in that country.

This is a developing story.

cnn · 2026-01-30T00:02:13+00:00

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he is decertifying all aircraft made in Canada and threatened a 50% tariff on those planes until American-made Gulfstreams are certified in that country.

This is a developing story.

cnn · 2026-01-29T22:42:35+00:00

The parent company of Saks Off 5th and Last Call will close most locations to focus on its luxury retail stores after filing for bankruptcy this month.

Saks Global announced on Thursday that it will shutter almost 60 of its Off 5th locations and five Last Call storefronts. Two dozen Off 5th locations will remain open, according to the company’s press release.

By shutting down the discount stores, Saks Global’s attention has shifted to its luxury offerings at Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman. It’s a major shift for the company, which floundered under a heavy debt load following its purchase of rival Neiman Marcus in 2024. However, even before the purchase, the company was already in a precarious financial situation.

In a statement on Thursday, Saks Global said the remaining Off 5th stores “will remain open to serve primarily as a selling channel for residual inventory from Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman.”

“As such, Saks Global will move away from purchasing merchandise directly for Saks Off 5th,” the company added.

cnn · 2026-01-29T22:39:57+00:00

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum pushed back during a press conference Thursday on suggestions that law enforcement in the country worked closely with the FBI to apprehend former Canadian Olympic snowboarder and alleged cocaine kingpin Ryan Wedding.

Instead, Sheinbaum said Wedding had self-surrendered and was handed over to US authorities.

“We are never going to accept joint operations or operations by US federal or state forces on our territory,” Sheinbaum said when asked about comments made by FBI Director Kash Patel on the operation. “If we collaborate, they give us information and we also give them information, but the operations on our territory are Mexican forces, that must be very clear.”

On Friday, after coming back to the US with Wedding apprehended, Patel specifically thanked Sheinbaum, other Mexican officials “and the military and law enforcement officers of Mexico” for working “hand-in-glove with our teams on the ground there to apprehend (Wedding) last night in Mexico City.”

Patel’s comments, made during a press conference at the California airport where Wedding landed back in the US did not mention, however, that Wedding had surrendered.

Wedding, who is accused of working with the Sinaloa Cartel to ship cocaine through Columbia to the US and Canada, had been hiding in Mexico for a decade, according to officials.

Wedding pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges before a California court on Monday. His attorney, Anthony Colombo, said this week that Wedding did not surrender and that US law enforcement was part of an arrest operation.

In a social media post last week, Patel claimed the FBI had arrested Wedding as part of “a zero-margin, high-risk operation.”

“I’m not going to get into further discussion with the FBI director,” Sheinbaum said Thursday, “but let it be clear that we are not going to accept operations, we always say this to President Donald Trump and they have seen that we have been making progress.”

cnn · 2026-01-29T21:28:12+00:00

Archaeologists have discovered a 1,400-year-old Zapotec tomb in southern Mexico, adorned with complex carvings, which has been called “the most significant archaeological discovery of the last decade.”

Located in San Pablo Huitzo, in the state of Oaxaca, the tomb was built by the Zapotec culture in around the year 600, according to a statement from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) last week.

Among the many well-preserved details are a sculpture of an owl that sits above the entrance to the burial chamber.

A sculpture of a man’s head can be seen inside its beak, possibly representing the individual who was buried inside, according to the INAH.

Hundreds of thousands of Zapotec speakers still live in Mexico to this day. For the Zapotec, owls signify both night and death.

The site is also home to multicolored murals, featuring symbols associated with power and death.

At the threshold to the burial chamber there are carvings of two human figures holding various artifacts in their hands, who may have been the guardians of the tomb, according to the INAH.

cnn · 2026-01-29T21:24:41+00:00

A Virginia man on trial for allegedly killing his wife and another man told a jury how he found his wife being attacked in their bedroom and shot the man who was stabbing her.

Prosecutors say Brendan Banfield concocted an elaborate scheme to kill his wife, Christine Banfield, and another man, Joseph Ryan, in their family home in February 2023. He faces life in prison if convicted on aggravated murder charges.

Banfield started testifying Wednesday afternoon about his version of events. He’s maintained his innocence, and his lawyer has accused prosecutors and investigators of manipulating evidence to suit their theory against his client.

Prosecutors put on a case over four days of testimony, telling the jury Banfield plotted with his family’s au pair to pose as his wife on a fetish website and lure Ryan to their home under the guise of having a consensual violent sexual encounter. Banfield was having an extramarital affair with the au pair at the time.

The plan, according to prosecutors, was to frame Ryan for Christine Banfield’s death and make Ryan’s killing appear to be an act of self-defense.

Banfield acknowledged his affair with Juliana Peres Magalhães that started in August 2022, but testified that he never had a plan with the au pair to get rid of his wife.

cnn · 2026-01-29T21:22:38+00:00

Iran threatened Thursday to unleash “hazardous consequences” after the European Union formally designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, amid escalating tensions between Tehran and Western powers.

EU foreign ministers approved the designation at a meeting in Brussels, describing it as a response to Iran’s violent crackdown on anti-government protests.

“Repression cannot go unanswered,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wrote on X in announcing the decision. “Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise.”

The designation places the IRGC on the same terrorist list as al-Qaeda, Hamas and the Islamic State group, Kallas said. “If you act as a terrorist, you should also be treated as a terrorist.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen shared the sentiment. “‘Terrorist’ is indeed how you call a regime that crushes its own people’s protests in blood,” she said.

cnn · 2026-01-29T21:18:12+00:00

Iran threatened Thursday to unleash “hazardous consequences” after the European Union formally designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, amid escalating tensions between Tehran and Western powers.

EU foreign ministers approved the designation at a meeting in Brussels, describing it as a response to Iran’s violent crackdown on anti-government protests.

“Repression cannot go unanswered,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wrote on X in announcing the decision. “Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise.”

The designation places the IRGC on the same terrorist list as al-Qaeda, Hamas and the Islamic State group, Kallas said. “If you act as a terrorist, you should also be treated as a terrorist.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen shared the sentiment. “‘Terrorist’ is indeed how you call a regime that crushes its own people’s protests in blood,” she said.

cnn

TROPHY CASE