Opinion | Comey, McCabe and IRS Audits

Their IRS probes got here in the course of the tenure of Commissioner

Charles Rettig,

whom Mr. Trump appointed in 2018 and who nonetheless leads the company. Mr. Comey’s got here three months after then-Lawyer Normal

William Barr

selected to not indict him associated to the Russia probe, and Mr. McCabe’s started shortly after the Biden Justice Division settled a lawsuit in opposition to him.

These particularly thorough audits are ostensibly random. The IRS says the Nationwide Analysis Program selects a couple of thousand taxpayers a 12 months for the evaluations, chosen by an algorithm primarily based on undisclosed standards. Mr. Rettig says he performed no position within the audits, and on Thursday he requested the company’s inspector basic to evaluate how the 2 former FBI males have been chosen for the audit. Good concept.

However some Democrats aren’t ready to leap to Trumpian conclusions. “Trump has no respect for the rule of legislation,” mentioned Senate Finance Chairman

Ron Wyden

in an announcement. “If he tried to topic his political enemies to extra IRS scrutiny that may shock nobody.” Mr. Trump says he knew nothing concerning the audits.

Too dangerous Mr. Wyden has proven little curiosity within the rule of legislation regarding different IRS abuses. One instance is final 12 months’s leak of tax information to the progressive web site ProPublica. The location revealed the detailed information of such billionaires as

Warren Buffett

and

Jeff Bezos

in June 2021, the identical time Democrats have been making the case for a wealth tax. The leak was a federal crime, and ProPublica hasn’t disclosed its supply or how the information have been obtained.

A 12 months later the IRS nonetheless hasn’t provided details about the leak to Congress. Not that Mr. Wyden’s committee or Democrats on Home Methods and Means appear desirous to know. The identical was true in the course of the

Obama

years when the IRS subjected conservative nonprofits to undue scrutiny of their functions for tax-exempt standing. The media yawned, and Mr. Comey advised Congress nobody broke the legislation.

By all means discover out if the 2 audits have been politically motivated, and hearth these accountable. However let’s not have a double normal relying on who’s the IRS goal.