Top Tax Official Pushed Out After Clashes With Trump Administration: Report

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Huff Post

Jul 17, 2026, 01:45 PM EDT | Updated 2 hours ago


Assistant Treasury Secretary Kenneth Kies has been ousted after warning that President Donald Trump’s administration was at risk of breaking a law forbidding White House officials from intervening in Internal Revenue Service audits, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The Journal cited several unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

Kies had reportedly “clashed behind the scenes with White House officials,” including at a “recent meeting in which he contended that a potential White House request would violate Section 7217 of the Internal Revenue Code.”

Section 7217 of the IRS code states that it is “unlawful for any applicable person to request, directly or indirectly, any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service to conduct or terminate an audit or other investigation of any particular taxpayer.”

In dual roles as the Treasury’s assistant secretary for tax policy and acting chief counsel at the IRS, Kies oversaw the development of federal tax policy and the implementation of tax legislation, including the GOP’s “big, beautiful” and widely debilitating tax and spending bill. “We appreciate his service to our nation,” a Trump official told The New York Times.

Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/assistant-treasury-secretary-kenneth-kies-pushed-out-clashes-with-trump-admin_n_6a5a334fe4b0f033db1b91f1?origin=home-latest-news-unit

[James48]

1. That's a five year felony.

Somebody should call the FBI.

26 U.S. Code § 7217 - Prohibition on executive branch influence over taxpayer audits and other investigations.

“ d) Penalty
Any person who willfully violates subsection (a) or fails to report under subsection (b) shall be punished upon conviction by a fine in any amount not exceeding $5,000, or imprisonment of not more than 5 years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.”

[AZ8theist]

2. YAWN.

Just another impeachable crime. Nothing will get done about it.

[Buddyzbuddy]

3. I wonder what the statute of limitations is for that crime?