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The IRS has conducted audits in recent years of two of former President Donald Trump’s most frequent targets of criticism, former FBI Director James B. Comey and his deputy, leading Comey to question whether the audits were motivated by political retribution against leaders of the law enforcement agencies that have been investigating Trump and his campaign.
Trump fired Comey in 2017, ramping up an investigation into Trump associates that had begun a year earlier. After Comey’s firing, his deputy, Andrew McCabe, took over the FBI for several months, during which time the bureau opened an investigation into Trump for possible obstruction of justice.
For years, Trump has repeatedly and publicly attacked the two men, calling for them to be charged with crimes and accusing them of waging a politically motivated witch hunt against him. While both men have been investigated and sometimes criticized for their behavior, neither has been charged with a crime.
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These types of IRS audits are intended to be infrequent and random. The prospect of two people so hated by the former president being audited within a few years raised Comey’s concerns about possible political abuse of the IRS’s authority.
“I don’t know if anything wrong 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 find out,” Comey said in a statement. “Maybe it’s a coincidence, or maybe someone abused the IRS to get their hands on a political enemy.” Given the role Trump wants to continue to play in our country, we need to know the answer to that question.
A lawyer for McCabe confirmed that he was also being investigated.
The New York Times, which first reported the audits, said the audit of Comey began in 2019, focusing on his 2017 tax return, the year he signed a seven-figure book deal. McCabe’s audit began in 2021, focusing on his 2019 tax return, the Times said.
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The McCabe audit was launched months into the Biden administration, but the agency is still run by Trump-appointed Commissioner Charles Rettig.
After politically motivated abuses by the Nixon administration, the IRS prided itself on systems designed to keep politics or personal motives out of the agency’s tax review process.
Asked for comment about the Comey and McCabe audits, the IRS said in a statement that privacy laws prevent it from discussing specific taxpayers.
“Audits are performed by career government employees, and the IRS has strong safeguards in place to protect the examination process — and against politically motivated audits,” the statement said. “It is ludicrous and false to suggest that senior IRS officials somehow targeted certain individuals for audits of the National Research Program.”
The IRS statement also suggested that the Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration may review the matter.
This is a developing story. Will update.
Lisa Raine contributed to this report.
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