Trump Wanted I.R.S. Investigations of Foes, Gen. Kelly says

Anyone who says 'Trump was a decent president' is totally ignorant of the fact that Trump abused his office repeatedly, and by that fact, is not worthy of the office.

Here we have him asking his chief of staff, Gen. Kelly, to order the IRS to do audits of people who are critical of him or are his perceived enemies, so says Kelly and I have no reason to doubt the former Marine General.

Uh, No, Donald, that is not what Presidents are supposed to do. You know, separation of powers and all that, eh?


Trump Repeatedly Called For IRS, Justice Department Probes Of Foes: Report

https://news.yahoo.com/news/trump-repeatedly-called-irs-justice-122912650.html

When Donald Trump was president, he repeatedly demanded investigations by the IRS and Justice Department against foes he thought had made him “look bad,” his former White House chief of staff John Kelly told The New York Times.

Trump often demanded probes in the wake of news reports involving perceived enemies who angered him, according to Kelly, who said he viewed Trump’s plans as an unacceptable “weaponization” of the power of the presidency.

Trump discussed investigations of FBI director James Comey and his deputy Andrew McCabe, former CIA director John Brennan, Hillary Clinton, and Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, whose newspaper’s coverage of Trump infuriated him, Kelly told the Times in an article published Sunday.

“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,” Kelly said.

Source article:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/13/us/politics/trump-irs-investigations.html

Mr. Trump would eventually let the idea go, Mr. Kelly said, but during subsequent outbursts about his enemies he would again bring up his desires to have them investigated.

 

If I'd have been the target of countless IRS audits like Trump I might be tempted to use the IRS as a weapon too. BTW did you hear the Biden admin just hired 87,000 new IRS agents?

https://cointelegraph.com/news/biden-is-hiring-87-000-new-irs-agents-and-they-re-coming-for-you

 

pretty much I think, anything Trump accused others of doing, he probably did himself

 

Yes, with the whiny Trumpet, accusation is confession.

 

Trump's FBI taps Stormy's lawyer's phone calls.... coincidence?

 

Is there any proof John F. Kelly said this... is this a video recorded interview we can look at, or once again are the Russian hoax pusher trying to feed us a fake news and we have to take their word for it?

 

I may have been sleeping on this story, because I didn't know there was a potential legal angle...

There may be

SNIP
General John Kelly—Trump’s former chief of staff—publicly stated that the former president demanded that the IRS conduct audits of his perceived enemies, including former FBI Director James Comey and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

If Trump made this demand while he was president, that is an unambiguous felony. Section 7217 of Title 26 of the United States Code makes it a crime for the “President” to “request, directly or indirectly, any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service to conduct or terminate an audit or other investigation of any particular taxpayer with respect to the tax liability of such taxpayer.”
ENDSNIP

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-might-have-to-face-his-worst-nightmarea-dc-jury

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/...e unlawful for,tax liability of such taxpayer.

Obviously, the Trump Crime methodology is to "vaguely suggest" that to a flunkie who gets the word to the IRS, insulating his fat ass yet again, but maybe there are loopholes...

 

I would not.

If they can collect the $450B annually which is currently not collected, then its well worth the investment.

 

It's almost like you can hear Obama laughing his ass off.

 

True... I mean, who would be so ****ing stupid as to tell his COS of his illegal plans?

Oh.... right....

 

I bet you think that that was very clever but you know exactly what I'm referring. Obama was well known to sick the IRS on his opposition. The tea party springs immediately to mind.

 

The Tea Party playing the victim doesn't mean IRS was unfair against them, and even if they were, there is no proof Obama had anything to do with it. In this case, however, Trump is right in the middle of it, because there is proof he specifically requested IRS to go after his political opponents. If that is true then he was more corrupt than people realized.

 

Abuse of power doesn't seem to be a big deal to some.

 

@FatBack ^^^ is my response as well... But I only bolded the parts I agreed with...

Obama having the IRS go after his opponents = Urban Legend...

 

How much of that $450B is due to tax havens Corporations and wealthy individuals legally take advantage of? The rich have the best accountants that know better than any newly hired IRS agents how to shelter their wealth. The better target will be those in the lower classes trying to get a break from taxes.

 

The lefts hypocrisy has no bounds

IRS Apologizes For Aggressive Scrutiny Of Conservative Groups
https://www.npr.org/2017/10/27/5603...or-aggressive-scrutiny-of-conservative-groups

Justice Department settles with conservative groups over IRS scrutiny
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...vative-groups-over-irs-scrutiny-idUSKBN1CV1TY

IRS admits targeting conservatives for tax scrutiny in 2012 election
https://www.washingtonpost.com/busi...6a0ada-b987-11e2-92f3-f291801936b8_story.html

Why is it the left is always accusing the right, of what the left is actually doing?

 

I made a mistake, its actually $600B.. Most of the uncollected taxes are from people / corporations who have income from multiple complex sources and lots of it + many deductions (real and imagined). Lower income people typically have a single source and their tax is automatically deducted before they get their hands on it.

Are you against collecting what is owed?

 

I'm against the current tax code. The wealthy (including all those involved in politics) have rigged the system to benefit themselves. If you really wanted "fairness" in collecting taxes you would advocate for a flat tax with no loopholes (no deductions at all).

Most of the poor end up getting all they paid, plus, back. Don't you think they should have to share in the cost of the public services they receive?

 

I want them to collect what is owed. A flat tax would hit the low income BIG time.

Sure, about 50% end up paying nothing. Tell it to those who insisted to one tax cut after the other.

 

Then the mantra of the wealthy paying their "fair share" is just political BS. Why shouldn't the poor pay their "fair share" as well? They receive the same public services the wealthy does.

 

Except they didn't.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/life...90c7ec-a9f7-11e7-850e-2bdd1236be5d_story.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_targeting_controversy

 

SCOTUS took big steps to ensure that this would remain so with the Citizen United decision.

Collecting taxes from people who don't even have enough to buy food has been tried by monarchies for centuries. And all you get is your dungeons full of people you have to feed... If not masses of people who are executed for not paying their taxes inciting the overthrowing of the King.

Bottom line: you are not inventing anything new. And it doesn't work.

A flat tax with no loopholes AFTER everybody has been assured that the minimum to make a normal living has been deduced may be a good option, though. Maybe something around $100K a year income, and all assets up to $1 million should be exempt. A yearly tax payment on anything above those minimums might not be a bad idea to consider. Depending on how it's thought-out.

 

So weaponizing the IRS is bad now?

 

So weaponizing the IRS is good now?

 

Says the people that actually used the IRS, CIA, FBI, DOJ and every alphabet agency to target their political foes, and keep political prisoners.