By Emily Russell
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was pressed on matters related to his role as acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service at a Senate Banking Committee hearing Thursday.
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D., Il.) asked Bessent about President Donald Trump's recently filed $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS and the Treasury Department. Trump alleges that leaks of his confidential tax records and those of the Trump Organization to news organizations between 2018 and 2020 caused reputational and financial harm.
Bessent said no one from the president's office has contacted him about the lawsuit. "That is a Department of Justice matter," Bessent said.
Payment to Trump would come from the Treasury Judgement Fund, which is funded by taxpayers. Bessent controls that fund. Bessent said that if the DOJ instructs him to pay Trump, "I will follow the law."
In response to a question from Sen. Bill Cassidy (R., La.) about whether the April 15 tax filing deadline might be pushed back because of severe winter weather, Bessent said, "we are working on that," noting that "It is traditional to grant extensions on events like this." Winter Storm Fern affected 4o states and hundreds of millions of Americans in late January. More than one million people lost power.
Weather-related filing delays are common. The IRS delayed filing deadlines for businesses and individuals in parts of Texas last year after floods ravaged the state.
Write to Emily Russell at emily.russell@barrons.com
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February 05, 2026 12:48 ET (17:48 GMT)
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