The New York Times is reporting that former FBI Director James Comey and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe were subjected to invasive IRS audits that the tax agency says are random.
President Trump wanted both men prosecuted, leading Comey and others to speculate that the exceedingly rare audits were political payback.
The New York Times further reports:
The odds of being selected for that audit in any given year are tiny — out of nearly 153 million individual returns filed for 2017, for example, the I.R.S. targeted about 5,000, or roughly one out of 30,600.
One of the few who received a bureaucratic letter with the news that his 2017 return would be under intensive scrutiny was James B. Comey, who had been fired as F.B.I. director that year by President Donald J. Trump. Furious over what he saw as Mr. Comey's lack of loyalty and his pursuit of the Russia investigation, Mr. Trump had continued to rail against him even after his dismissal, accusing him of treason, calling for his prosecution and publicly complaining about the money Mr. Comey received for a book after his dismissal.
Mr. Comey was informed of the audit in 2019. Two years later, the I.R.S., still under the leadership of a Trump appointee after President Biden took office, picked about 8,000 returns for the same type of audit Mr. Comey had undergone from the 154 million individual returns filed in 2019, or about one in 19,250.
…
How taxpayers get selected for the program of intensive audits — known as the National Research Program — is closely held. The I.R.S. is prohibited by law from discussing specific cases, further walling off from scrutiny the type of audit Mr. Comey and Mr. McCabe faced.
IRS Commissioner Charles P. Rettig declined the Times' request for an interview. He was appointed by Trump in 2018.
In a written statement, the IRS said, “Commissioner Rettig is not involved in individual audits or taxpayer cases; those are handled by career civil servants,” the statement said. “As I.R.S. commissioner, he has never been in contact with the White House — in either administration — on I.R.S. enforcement or individual taxpayer matters. He has been committed to running the I.R.S. in an impartial, unbiased manner from top to bottom.”
The IRS has asked the Treasury Department's inspector general's office to review the matter.
Comey needs a lot more investigating than just an audit. He is guilty of treason and needs to be held accountable.
If you want to bring up unbelievable statistics and odds, let’s look at the last election results first.
Excellent post.
“Orange Man Bad” propaganda!
How about others too??
If the IRS uses any kind of criteria that is connected to a reason why someone might be audited it only reasons to look at Comey because he was doing things that appeared illegal so you wonder if he is being paid to do this or has some ferrous reason to cover his tracks on money he might be getting. I will bet Trump would not do what Obama has been proved to do and that is to use the IRS to punish his enemies!!
The exact opposite is true. Remember Lois whore Lerner? These low life’s only lie. Trump should have EXTERMINATED THEM. WE WONT MAKE THAT MISTAKE AGAIN.
trump committed treason.
So I guess the fact that I’ve been audited and my wife’s business has been audited makes us winners of the lottery?
Huh. They aren’t rare if you are a businessman who is a known Republican supporter. They aren’t rare if you are Donald Trump. They aren’t rare if you are adopting children, because only Christians do that as a general rule. You get the picture.
Comey is fortunate it was only an IRS audit. This man has a lot to answer for. Among them treason might even come to mind for trying to overthrow a duly-elected President if the United States if America!
Why is this man NOT already awaiting a jail sentence???