Intel expert lays out case against 'deeply suspicious' IRS audits of Trump enemies

In a column for MSNBC, the former assistant director for counterintelligence at the FBI claims something stinks about reports that former FBI director James Comey and former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe were each subjected to a rare and intrusive IRS audits after falling out of favor with Donald Trump.

According to New York Times report, the two high-ranking officials who were ousted by the former president were on the receiving end of rarest of all tax audits jokingly known as "an autopsy without the benefit of death,” and the fact that Trump loathed both men for not buckling to his demands should set off red flags about political manipulation.

In his column Frank Figliuzzi pointed out: "There were almost 153 million individual returns filed for 2017, and the IRS selected only 5,000 for this most comprehensive of audits — that’s about one return out of every 30,600. If that’s not 'random' enough for you: McCabe’s attorney was audited, too."

According to the former FBI man, Trump has often made mention of rogue federal employees doing political dirty work and that should be taken as a clue that something is rotten in the IRS.

"During Trump’s administration, we heard him endlessly rant about a so-called 'deep state' of federal employees buried deep within government agencies and intent on using their positions to do him harm. What we really need to know is the extent to which Trump appointees and loyalists who abused their positions may still be in government and still working on behalf of a former president instead of working for the American people," he wrote before focusing on current IRS commissioner Charles Rettig -- h who happens to be a Trump appointee.

Lauding the IRS announcing an inspector general investigation, Figliuzzi suggested Rettig should be taken off-duty until the inquiry is completed.

"Rettig should be walked out of his office — now. At a minimum, he should be suspended pending the Inspector General inquiry. If the IG determines anyone at IRS violated the law, there should be a criminal referral and a swift prosecution," he wrote. "Congress too must open an investigation into what transpired with these highly invasive audits and plug any gaps identified in a program that may well have been misused to target Americans."

Conceding it might all be an extraordinary coincidence, he added, "...a potential abuse of a system that touches every American’s life is a matter that goes beyond Trump and his own penchant for vengeance. Americans need to trust that their government will not turn its full punitive powers against them simply because they incurred the wrath of a president. If not, this will someday happen again – and we’ll all be wondering how we ignored the lightning strikes that set our democracy ablaze."

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