According to The New York Times on Wednesday, the IRS conducted intrusive, arbitrary audits of both former FBI Director James Comey and former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe.
During their terms at the highest echelons of government, both men faced harsh criticism from then-President Donald Trump.
After firing Comey over his involvement in the Justice Department’s inquiry into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, Trump frequently accused him of treason.
After being ousted for deceiving FBI investigators, McCabe also received frequent criticism from the then-president.
Comey’s letter for his 2017 tax return and McCabe’s letter for his 2019 tax return both contained notices from the Internal Revenue Service advising the two of the audits.
Prior to being informed by Times reporters, neither man was aware the other had been the subject of the audit.
It is extremely unlikely that an American would be chosen for one of the random audits because they are so seldom.
Only 5,000 out of 153 million returns, or around 1 in 30,600, were chosen in 2017, according to The Times.
There is no proof that Charles Rettig, a Trump appointee who presently leads the IRS, acted improperly.
However, the information raises concerns about the likelihood that two senior FBI agents were both picked for the thorough investigation of their finances.
While in office, Trump exercised unheard-of influence over many branches of the government, including a campaign to persuade the Justice Department and then-Attorney General William Barr to investigate fictitious allegations of election fraud in order to maintain his position of power. Barr resigned after refusing to give in to the pressure.
“I don’t know whether anything inappropriate happened, but after understanding how unusual this audit was and how desperately Trump wanted to destroy me at that time, it made sense to attempt to figure it out,” Comey told the Times in a statement.
It could be a coincidence or someone could have abused the I.R.S. to target a political adversary. We ought to be aware of the answer given the part Trump intends to continue to play in our nation.
Additionally, McCabe claimed that he had “serious doubts” regarding his selection.
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He added on CNN later that day: “It just defies sense to suppose that there wasn’t some other aspect involved.”
“That’s a fair question, in my opinion. It should, in my opinion, be looked into. We should investigate this and discover what happened because people need to be able to have faith in governmental institutions.
Through a spokeswoman, Trump informed the Times that he was unaware of the audits. Rettig had never communicated with the White House, according to the IRS, and had no involvement with any particular audits.
In order to keep his position of power, Trump used unheard-of influence over various sectors of the government while in office, including a campaign to encourage the Justice Department and then-Attorney General William Barr to look into fake charges of election fraud. Barr resigned after standing his ground and defying the demands.
