Pascrell Hammers Latest Report of Trump IRS Corruption

Oversight chair has repeatedly demanded reform of wounded tax agency

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09), the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight, today reacted angrily to comments from former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly that Donald Trump tried to weaponize the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to attack his enemies, adding more evidence to earlier reports of IRS corruption by the Trump administration.

“The corruption by Donald Trump and his enablers of our tax system is unprecedented,” said Chairman Pascrell. “It is why I pushed President Biden so hard to remove and replace Trump’s IRS chief Charles Rettig, which I am glad President Biden finally announced last week. Rebuilding Americans’ trust in our tax system demands rebuilding the broken IRS and that fresh start in leadership is essential. The comments from Mr. Kelly provide yet more evidence that Trump may have weaponized the IRS to attack his enemies. This would be one of the worst scandals in our nation’s history. We must have a full investigation of Trump’s debasement of the IRS and any criminal behavior must be held to full account. None of us should be surprised at what Trump has done to our government. We must follow every thread to uncover the numerous scandals perpetrated by Trump and his lackeys.”

On May 13, 2022, Pascrell became the first member of Congress to demand Rettig’s dismissal. He reiterated those calls on July 7 after the audits of Comey and McCabe were brought to light saying: “If you think the audit of Donald Trump’s purported enemies was a random act of God then I have a bridge in North Jersey I’d like to sell you.” On July 8, 2022, Pascrell wrote to President Biden urging him to immediately fire Charles Rettig in the wake of revelations that Comey and McCabe were targeted for audits.

As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight, Pascrell has been focused on fixing the IRS. On October 26, 2021, Pascrell demanded answers from Commissioner Rettig on systemic mail delays impacting IRS operations, tax filings, and refunds. Pascrell raised alarms on the slow start to the 2021 tax-filing season, and with Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA-01) castigated the IRS’s continually sending out erroneous notices to taxpayers.