Trump’s Ex-Chief of Staff Says He Discussed Using IRS to Retaliate Against FBI Employees Investigating Him
Trump’s Ex-Chief of Staff Says He Discussed Using IRS to Retaliate Against FBI Employees Investigating Him
During his presidency, Donald Trump discussed having the Internal Revenue Service conduct investigations into two FBI agents probing his 2016 campaign's alleged ties to Russia, according to a sworn statement by his former chief of staff, John Kelly.
Gaslight Obstruct PROJECT
Every accusation is an admission with the MAGA crowd.
I know that it's no secret that presidents like Nixon used the FBI as his own Pinkerton agency and that the FBI itself was a haphazardly constructed agency for Hoover's shady shit, but Trump always seems to take it to another petty level that always reflects his own projected fears.
A tax audit on most normal people would cause some anxiety, but as long as they bothered to file in the last couple years and DIDN'T do anything shady like, say, claiming a charity that never actually gave to charity, they'll be fine. A guy like Trump treats an IRS investigation into his tax claims like we're looking at his entire internet history along with webcam shots of his face for when he spots an Ivanka pic.
Also, it's another example of wasted government resources on petty investigation. The amount of money and labor into auditing a worker on a federal income will never turn a great ROI, like say investigating a Senator or tech mogul
The FBI had made itself into an internationally respected law enforcement organization. There is root in the FBI just as there is everywhere else but the agency as a whole does good work.
I pay my accountants less than $200/year for audit insurance. I get $10,000 worth of "fuck you" for that.
This explains the brief wave of “Weaponized IRS” memes in late 2019 and early 2020 by “alleged Russian troll farms”.
He only admits this now, under oath, as part of a lawsuit alleging further abuse of power. He did nothing at the time. Fuck John Kelly. At best he's a sniveling, disgraceful coward, and at worst a traitorous co-conspirator. He and the rest of the former administration should have no place in government or public service. It's shameful the media doesn't name him explicitly in the headline-- none of these people should be able to live this down.
At best he's a sniveling, disgraceful coward, and at worst a traitorous co-conspirator.
Why not both?
It is common practice in Trump's world to to do unethical things and break rules. That is why he was so effective as a corrupt president. Our norms of good public servants didn't stop Trump.
He'd have no issues using the government as a tool to destroy his political enemy.
I really hope they convict this MFer and keep him in prison for the rest of his pathetic life. I realize he's not actually the problem (the problem lies amongst his supporters), but I just hate seeing a psychopathic narcissist like him getting away with his transparent bullshit.
He and people like him are the problem, and their supporters are the problem as well. But the two are very different classes of problems, with the former exploiting the ignorance and anger of the latter for the sake of their own wealth and power.
Mrmmm...I said the problem lies amongst his supporters for a reason. While there are certainly some in the MAGA crowd that genuinely deserve condemnation and rebuke, it's both fallacious and unproductive to label nearly half the U.S. population "the problem." I'm a liberal, but I've talked to Trump-supporting conservatives to try to understand how they can get behind someone so clearly self-serving and bad for the country, and they've pointed out things like the fact that in both news and popular media, representation of conservative vs. liberal views is increasingly lopsided. These folks feel like they're being shunned by the institutions that forge our societal narratives, that they've been effectively labeled pariahs. While I generally support progressive causes, talking to conservatives has made me realize that some of the ways in which my side has been championing these causes has contributed to the political polarization we're seeing today.
That's not to say there isn't a very significant portion of the MAGA crowd that really does just want 1950's America to come back and are willing to stop at nothing to make that happen--and that's part of the problem too, to be sure--but a societal issue this complex is never caused by just one group or another. The factors that led to Trump becoming the champion of the Right are many, and the Left bears some responsibility for it as well.
All of these people who worked with Trump in the White House and admitted to the horrible and terrifying things he did after leaving can get bent.
They could have done so many things while IN the White House, but nooo, they waited to say something until there was nothing they could change.
They are all complicit in everything Trump did.
How is this legal?
The real "checks and balances" used by the US are "we trust you not to be awful". Not working out so well for us.
Checks and balances are dependent on at least two of the three branches to be working in good faith and in the interest of the country as a whole. In that case, the third branch can theoretically be properly contained. I say theoretically because what the Right has been using, and came to full daylight under Trump, is that the entire system is no more than a gentlemen's agreement with no actual enforceability. As you point out, "we trust you not to be awful" and if you are awful, it turns out there's nothing we can actually do. Even with a supermajority opposing you, the process may be delayed or obfuscated sufficiently to make the available punishments (usu just removal from office) moot.
It’s okay everyone, just yet another Trump atrocity, we can ignore this sort of thing until a Democrat does it.