By Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff
WASHINGTON, May 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department has "forever barred" the Internal Revenue Service from pursuing any audits into past tax claims for President Donald Trump, his relatives and his companies, according to a one-page document released Tuesday.
The sweeping document, signed by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, said the U.S. government could not audit Trump's tax returns filed before Monday or any matters "that were raised or could have been raised."
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The order expanded the settlement agreement Trump reached Monday with the IRS in which he agreed to drop his $10 billion lawsuit over the leak of his tax returns. As part of the settlement, Justice Department created a nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate victims of political "weaponization."
Blanche faced repeated questions Tuesday over that fund in his first congressional testimony since taking over as acting attorney general.
(Reporting by Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff; Editing by Michael Learmonth and Alistair Bell)
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