Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent refuses to say whether Trump remains exempt from IRS audits
WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declined to say Wednesday whether President Donald Trump and his family will continue to be exempt from IRS audits after the administration. abandoned plans For a $1.776 billion compensation fund that will benefit the president’s allies.
“There is ongoing litigation and I cannot comment on pending litigation,” Bessent told lawmakers at a Senate Finance Committee hearing.
It was a frustrating response for Democratic lawmakers who wanted an answer from Bessent at a hearing ostensibly focused on the Treasury Department budget, and it came a day after acting Attorney General Todd Blanche indicated that the part of the deal dealing with IRS audit immunity would still be in effect for the Republican president.
After several unsuccessful attempts to get Bessent to respond, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto said: “It’s clear that you’re avoiding this and trying to use it as an excuse. This is outrageous behavior on the part of the American republic.”
A White House representative did not respond to an Associated Press inquiry about the status of the agreement. Trump has not commented publicly on rescinding the compensation fund.
The management decided to cancel the compensation fund plans, which could have included payments to participants. January 6, 2021, riot at the US CapitolAfter bipartisan outrage violent political reaction This threatened to stall key elements of the White House agenda. Still, status of IRS immunity deal as part of controversial deal to fix Trump’s problems $10 billion lawsuit against IRS Blanche remained unclear on Tuesday, although she said “nothing has changed” in the matter.
Last week, a federal judge in Florida overseeing Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS initially dismissed the lawsuit, reopened it and ordered the president’s lawyers to respond to allegations that Trump abandoned his claims to avoid court review of the settlement.
When it initially dismissed the case, the judge presiding over the case, Kathleen Williams, admonished the Justice Department for a lack of transparency, saying that neither agency had “filed any settlement documents or provided any documentation that ensures that resolution is appropriate where there is a significant question as to whether an actual lawsuit or dispute exists.”
Matt Platkin, a former New Jersey attorney general who now works at the law firm Platkin LLP and represented lawmakers and judges who challenged the settlement agreement, called it “one of the biggest scams in American history.”
Blanche’s testimony on Tuesday about plans to scrap the gun fund and give Trump audit immunity “underscores the need for the court to continue its investigation in Florida,” he told The Associated Press.
Lawmakers tried unsuccessfully to grill Bessent on Wednesday about the deal.
“Secretary Bessent owes it to the committee to disclose what Treasury knew about this dirty deal. That’s because his department was involved from start to finish,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
Wyden asked Bessent: “Is the IRS audit immunity granted to Trump, his family and his companies still valid?”
Bessent declined to respond, citing the unresolved legal dispute.
If audits and reviews of the president’s taxes are canceled under the agreement, an unknown figure could be wiped from the bill sent to the federal tax collector.
Previous reports from the New York Times and ProPublica show that: Long audit of a technique Trump reportedly used Avoiding paying taxes years ago could have resulted in a bill of an estimated $100 million if the IRS had detected wrongdoing.
Some Republicans even expressed concerns Wednesday about the plan to protect Trump from the IRS.
“I don’t think any American should make a deal like this,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., told reporters outside the chambers.
Nina Olson, founder of the Center for Taxpayer Rights, which is suing the Trump administration over its revelations about the IRS’s immigration practices, called the settlement “the lowest point for the IRS since the 1970s and President Nixon’s efforts to help his friends by trying to stop IRS audits and hurt his enemies by encouraging IRS audits.”
