Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) was put on the spot on CNN Sunday morning after "State of the Union" host Jake Tapper showed him a clip where Johnson was seen ranting and accusing former President Barack Obama using the IRS against his enemies.
He was then asked about Donald Trump's plans to do just that.
What followed was Johnson instead attempting to change the topic to America's tax laws in an effort to avoid criticizing the current Oval Office occupant.
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In the clip shared by the CNN host, an animated Johnson accused, "My eyes began opening to this reality with the disclosure of how the Obama administration weaponized the IRS to harass Tea Party groups by denying them tax-exempt status."
"President Trump is out in the open, threatening to target Harvard; a move that the conservative editorial board of the Wall Street Journal says is unwise and sets a bad precedent," Tapper pressed his guest. "Do you oppose his [Trump's] instruction to the IRS to take away Harvard's tax-exempt status?"
"Well, first of all, what I would like to do is simplify and rationalize our tax code so we really don't try and socially and economically engineer the economy through the tax code," Johnson attempted. "It should be simple, it should be rational, it should raise the revenue. We have –– the tax exempt status of all kinds of entities, you kind of scratch your head. You know, so many of these entities, for example, universities pretty easy for them to not make a profit so what value does that tax-exempt status have?"
"Right," the CNN host agreed. "But President Trump is out there instructing his IRS to target Harvard and you've been very outspoken about when targeting was done of conservative groups during the Obama years, which he apologized for ultimately, and I'm wondering if you are also upset at at this."
"Well, in the past, people have used tax-exempt status on churches and religious universities as well," Johnson parried. "Again, that's why I don't like our complex tax code. I don't want anybody to be using the tax code in this type of manner and so what I'd say is let's simplify the tax code –– that's the solution here."
You can watch below or at the link:
- YouTubeyoutu.be
