John Kelly (left), Donald Trump.Photo: Mike Theiler-Pool/Getty
When former PresidentDonald Trumphad a problem with someone, he wasn’t opposed to using the federal government to do his bidding. That’s according to former Trump chief of staff John Kelly, who tellsThe New York Timesin a new interview that Trump wanted to “get the IRS on” two of the people he viewed as enemies: former FBI DirectorJames Comeyand Comey’s top deputy,Andy McCabe.
As Kelly explains to theTimes, Trump spoke often about a desire to use the IRS to audit his enemies, including Comey, McCabe and others such as former Secretary of StateHillary Clinton, Amazon andWashingtonPostownerJeff Bezos, and CIA Director John Brennan.
According to theTimes, Kelly pushed back when asked about having Trump’s political foes audited, allegedly telling the then-president: “The U.S. government, whether it’s the IRS or the Justice Department, should never be weaponized or used to retaliate, and certainly not because someone criticizes you in the press or is your political opponent. The average federal employee or FBI agent or IRS agent goes to work and executes the laws and regulations and shouldn’t be put in this position.”
Olivier Douliery - Pool/Getty; William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC Newswire/NBCUniversal via Getty
The audits reportedly didn’t find anything improper, however. After their audit was complete, Comey and his wife were found to have overpaid their federal income tax and were refunded $347.
In an earlier statement, the IRS said it had “strong safeguards in place to protect the exam process — and against politically motivated audits.”
“It’s ludicrous and untrue to suggest that senior IRS officials somehow targeted specific individuals for National Research Program audits,” the IRS statement continued.
But the agency has alsoasked its inspector general to investigatethe allegations.
Comey and McCabe were both frequent targets of Trump’s ire.
Trump was vocal during this time about his distrust for the two men, often taking to social media to demand they be charged for what he considered to be personally motivated attacks against him.
As such, Comey’s eyebrows raised at two former FBI leaders both being chosen at random within such a short period of time to be audited.
“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,” said Comey.
He continued, “Maybe it’s a coincidence or maybe somebody misused the IRS to get at a political enemy. Given the role Trump wants to continue to play in our country, we should know the answer to that question.”
Kelly suggests that it was no accident, telling theTimesthat Trump “initially thought” he would follow through on the request to have the men, and others, audited.
“If he told you to slit someone’s throat, he thought you would go out and do it,” Kelly told theTimes.
But Kelly says he wouldn’t.
“I would say, ‘It’s inappropriate, it’s illegal, it’s against their integrity and the IRS knows what it’s doing and it’s not a good idea,'” Kelly told Trump, per theTimes.
Trump’s response was reportedly one of disbelief.
“Yeah, but they’re writing bad things about me,” Trump allegedly replied.
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As theTimesnotes, it is against federal law for any member of the executive branch “to request, directly or indirectly” that the IRS investigate or audit a taxpayer.
Trump is currently facing a large number of legal issues and being investigated at the federal and state level, in both criminal and civil cases, for a variety of allegations linked to presidential records, the 2020 election, sexual assault and business dealings at the Trump Organization.
source: people.com
