Key keywords: ex-federal judges, Trump IRS settlement, tax fraud investigation, IRS confidential tax deal, Donald Trump personal tax liabilities, federal tax compliance, congressional oversight of IRS, Treasury Department Inspector General A bipartisan group of 11 former federal judges released an open letter on Wednesday calling on the U.S. Department of Justice and the Treasury Department Inspector General for Tax Administration to launch a formal fraud probe into the 2021 confidential tax settlement between former President Donald Trump and the Internal Revenue Service, which resolved a decade-long audit into Trump’s 2010 and 2011 tax filings. Previously released records from the House Ways and Means Committee show that the IRS initially determined Trump owed more than $100 million in back taxes, interest, and penalties related to questionable loss deductions he claimed on his personal tax returns during those years. The final settlement, reached just months after Trump left office, required him to pay only $7 million, a reduction of more than 93% from the original assessed liability, with no additional penalties for alleged misrepresentation of his business finances. The group of former judges, which includes 4 appointees of Republican presidents and 7 appointees of Democratic presidents, noted in their letter that the terms of the settlement are highly unusual for a taxpayer with Trump’s level of reported income and the magnitude of alleged tax discrepancies. They also raised concerns that improper political interference may have shaped the audit process during Trump’s presidency, when he had direct authority over IRS leadership and could influence staffing decisions related to his personal audit. IRS officials have repeatedly stated that the audit and subsequent settlement followed all standard internal procedures, and that no political appointees intervened in the process. However, the agency has refused to release detailed documentation of the settlement negotiations, citing federal taxpayer privacy laws, a position the former judges called “untenable” given the unprecedented nature of a sitting president being under active IRS audit for high-value tax liabilities. As of press time, the Department of Justice and Treasury Inspector General’s office have not issued a formal response to the letter, though several Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee have announced plans to hold hearings on the settlement later this year, to determine if additional legislation is needed to create independent oversight of IRS audits of sitting presidents and senior executive branch officials. Trump’s legal team has dismissed the call for a probe as a “baseless partisan stunt” ahead of the 2024 presidential election, arguing that the settlement was properly vetted by career IRS tax specialists.