US tax officials are investigating the tax audits of two Trump opponents

Each year, the tax returns of several thousand Americans are randomly subjected to an extensive audit by the IRS. In 2019, there was James Comey, who was the FBI director until he was fired by Trump in 2017. Two years later, his deputy Andrew McCabe’s personal finances were turned inside out by the government.

Both have been on strained terms with Trump over the investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 US presidential election, which Trump won and has since served as President of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Charles Reddick, head of the IRS, was appointed by Trump in 2018.

The The New York Times reported on Wednesday The odds of getting audited in both audits and in the US in 2017 were calculated to be 1 in 30,600. The newspaper later speculated that it was quite a coincidence that two of the former president’s opponents in two years had to open their financial books to the tax authorities.

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The Income Tax Department also thinks so. A spokeswoman for the agency told CNN that the IRS does not conduct “politically motivated audits” and has “robust safeguards” to ensure that the selection of candidates for tax audits is not influenced by outsiders.

Andrew McCabe called for an investigation in an interview with CNN on Wednesday. He believes that ‘people have to trust government institutions and that’s why this should be investigated from the bottom up’. He said on Thursday The New York Times“Perhaps it was a coincidence or someone tricked the IRS to go after a political opponent. As for the role Trump wants to continue to play in our country, we need to know the answer to that question.

“I don’t know anything about it,” Trump told US media through his spokesman.