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Former FBI Director James Comey and his deputy Andrew McCabe faced intensive IRS audits in 2017 and 2019, respectively.
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The IRS audit program affected one in 30,600 individual tax returns in 2017 and one in 19,250 in 2019.
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Both men were dismissed from the bureau following a series of public attacks from the former president.
Former FBI Director James Comey and his Vice President Andrew McCabe (both enemies of former President Donald Trump) underwent a rare random IRS audit during the Trump administration. New York Times report.
In 2017, the IRS carefully selected about 5,000 individuals, one in 30,600, from the 153 million taxpayers who filed their tax returns that year, according to a Times report.
The target of the random audit was Comey suddenly dismissed as FBI Director In May 2017, Trump investigated Trump’s investigation into relations with Russia.
Two years later, McCabe, who represented Comey after his dismissal and before being appointed Deputy Director of the FBI, underwent the same type of audit by the IRS. Of the 154 individual 1 million returns submitted that year, McCabe was one of the 8,000 audited returns, about one in 19,250.
McCabe Fired the day before he retired Following a series of public attacks by the former president who accused him of corruption.
Around Notifications sent by the IRS and captured by The TimesComey will be notified in 2019 that the 2017 return submitted jointly with the spouse will be audited, and McCabe will be notified in 2021 of the 2019 return also submitted jointly with the spouse. I did.
“The results of this and other compliance investigations will improve our efforts to help taxpayers understand and comply with tax law,” the letter read. “It will also reduce unnecessary and costly inspections and reduce the burden on taxpayers.”
Given the low likelihood of being selected for invasive audits, it seems an unusual example that two former FBI directors, who were opponents of the incumbent president at the time, would be subject to a random program.
“Lightning strikes, it’s rare and it’s like being selected for one of these audits,” John Koskinen, IRS Commissioner from 2013 to 2017, told the Times.
“The question is whether lightning will reappear in the same place. Will it happen?” Koskinen continued. “Some people may see it in their lives, but most don’t. So you don’t have to be an anti-trumper to look suspicious of this.”
Read the original article Business insider