Lyin' Sack o' shit:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday alleged that the Biden administration “rushed” an IRS audit of him after he was nominated, suggesting that the former administration ordered a politically motivated income tax review.
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On the social media platform X, President Donald Trump’s defense chief posted an image of what appears to be a notice from the IRS to Hegseth and his wife, notifying them that their federal tax return was being audited and they owed a balance of $33,558.
“Total sham,” he wrote. “The party of ‘norms’ and ‘decency’ strikes again. We will never back down.”
This is not the first time the Trump administration has accused its predecessor of playing politics with government agencies’ core functions. Trump has railed against what he perceived as politically motivated investigations by the Justice Department launched during the Biden administration, including into his alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and his alleged mishandling of classified documents after he left office. Since reentering the White House in January, his appointees have removed prosecutors linked to the probes.
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Hegseth did not offer any evidence that the alleged IRS scrutiny of his taxes was politically motivated.
He earned nearly $6 million in the two years before becoming defense secretary as a Fox News host, and through speaking fees and book deals, according to his financial disclosure form.
Tax experts who have served in Republican and Democratic administrations said audit decisions are made not by political appointees at the IRS but by career employees.
“The selection process is fenced off from the political appointees,” said Nina Olson, executive director of the Center for Taxpayer Rights, and for 18 years the national taxpayer advocate at the IRS — the agency official who advocates on behalf of taxpayers — who left in 2019.
There are only two Senate-confirmed political appointees at the IRS: the commissioner and the chief counsel. They do not, as a matter of practice, get involved in decisions about whom to audit, she said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday alleged that the Biden administration “rushed” an IRS audit of him after he was nominated, suggesting that the former administration ordered a politically motivated income tax review.
Sign up for Fact Checker, our weekly review of what's true, false or in-between in politics.
On the social media platform X, President Donald Trump’s defense chief posted an image of what appears to be a notice from the IRS to Hegseth and his wife, notifying them that their federal tax return was being audited and they owed a balance of $33,558.
“Total sham,” he wrote. “The party of ‘norms’ and ‘decency’ strikes again. We will never back down.”
This is not the first time the Trump administration has accused its predecessor of playing politics with government agencies’ core functions. Trump has railed against what he perceived as politically motivated investigations by the Justice Department launched during the Biden administration, including into his alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and his alleged mishandling of classified documents after he left office. Since reentering the White House in January, his appointees have removed prosecutors linked to the probes.
Follow live updates on the Trump administration. We’re tracking Trump’s progress on campaign promises, his picks for key roles and legal challenges to his executive orders and actions.
Hegseth did not offer any evidence that the alleged IRS scrutiny of his taxes was politically motivated.
He earned nearly $6 million in the two years before becoming defense secretary as a Fox News host, and through speaking fees and book deals, according to his financial disclosure form.
Tax experts who have served in Republican and Democratic administrations said audit decisions are made not by political appointees at the IRS but by career employees.
“The selection process is fenced off from the political appointees,” said Nina Olson, executive director of the Center for Taxpayer Rights, and for 18 years the national taxpayer advocate at the IRS — the agency official who advocates on behalf of taxpayers — who left in 2019.
There are only two Senate-confirmed political appointees at the IRS: the commissioner and the chief counsel. They do not, as a matter of practice, get involved in decisions about whom to audit, she said.
