McCabe’s audit began in 2021, focused on his tax return for 2019, the Times said. The New York Times, which first reported the audits, said Comey’s audit began in 2019, focused on his 2017 tax return, the year he signed a seven-figure book deal. Given the role Trump wants to continue to play in our country, we should know the answer to that question.”Ī lawyer for McCabe confirmed he, too, was audited. “Maybe it’s a coincidence or maybe somebody misused the I.R.S. “I don’t know whether anything improper happened, but after learning how unusual this audit was and how badly Trump wanted to hurt me during that time, it made sense to try to figure it out,” Comey said in a statement. The likelihood that two people so loathed by the former president would get audited within the space of a few years raised concerns for Comey about possible political misuse of the IRS’s authority. The types of IRS audits they experienced are designed to be rare and random. While both men were investigated, and at times criticized for their conduct, neither was charged with any crime. “He has been committed to running the IRS in an impartial, unbiased manner from top to bottom.”įor years, Trump has repeatedly and publicly attacked Comey and McCabe, calling for them to be charged with crimes and accusing them of pursuing a politically motivated witch hunt against him. “As IRS Commissioner, he has never been in contact with the White House – in either administration – on IRS enforcement or individual taxpayer matters,” the agency said.
The IRS, meanwhile, stressed in a statement that Rettig personally “is not involved in individual audits or taxpayer cases,” which instead are handled by “career civil servants.” A spokesperson for TIGTA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Wyden said that Rettig told him in a conversation that “any allegations of wrongdoing are taken seriously and are referred to the for further review.” A senior government official familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss it, said Rettig had referred the issue to TIGTA. For some, the news even invoked the specter of the disgraced Nixon administration, when the president leveraged the IRS – and its vast powers to look into Americans’ finances – to pursue his political enemies before he was forced to resign.Īn investigation into the matter would be carried out by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, or TIGTA, which typically opens probes at lawmakers’ request. The bipartisan political blowback nonetheless reflected the seriousness of the allegations and the long-simmering distrust of the IRS on Capitol Hill.
Kevin Brady, R-Tex., the top Republican on the tax-focused House Ways and Means Committee, separately said in a statement he would support “investigating all allegations of political targeting.” But Brady pointed to assurances from Trump-appointed IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, who said he had no communications with Trump, and the GOP congressman also mounted a political broadside against the agency for allegedly targeting conservatives under President Barack Obama. We need to understand what happened here because it raises serious concerns,” Wyden said. “Donald Trump has no respect for the rule of law, so if he tried to subject his political enemies to additional IRS scrutiny that would surprise no one. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement a “thorough investigation of this matter is crucial” – adding his panel would “look at what steps” it can take on its own. The two officials at the time had been primary targets of Trump’s ire after they probed the president in connection with his 2016 campaign, leading Comey to raise the possibility this week that the newly revealed audits amounted to political payback. The requests came a day after reports that the IRS initiated detailed reviews into the tax records of James Comey, the former FBI director, and Andrew McCabe, a deputy who later took over the agency.
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