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Trump team's IRS overhaul: George Soros, left-leaning groups on radar; what to know of planned changes
Gary Shapley, adviser to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, is spearheading the changes – including putting George Soros on the radar – at the IRS.
President Donald Trump's administration is reportedly planning sweeping changes at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), as per people familiar with the matter who spoke to the Wall Street Journal.
These changes are meant to allow the federal agency to go through with criminal inquiries of left-leaning groups with greater ease, the publication also reported. A list of potential targets has been drawn up by a senior IRS official, WSJ reported, and it includes major Democratic donors.
Gary Shapley, the adviser to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who's spearheading these changes, has been compiling a list of donors and groups he believes investigators at the IRS should be looking at. Among those on the list is George Soros, the Hungarian-American billionaire investor and philanthropist, and his affiliated groups. A senior IRS official and another person briefed about the matter shared the information about the Democratic donor with WSJ. However, the grounds on which Shapley would seek to start the investigation could not be determined.
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This move against Soros and his groups comes even as the Trump administration has has sought to probe left leaning groups for financing organizations, which as per the President, are creating anarchy in Democratic-led cities. Trump had earlier spoken about action against Soros as well. On Truth Social he said Soros and his son, Alex, should face federal charges under the RICO Act.
In a separate interview, Trump had said George Soros ‘should be in jail’ but didn't offer any reasons. Now, with the changes planned at the IRS, the billionaire is very much on the radar.
What are the planned changes at the IRS?
- Allies of Trump will be installed at the IRS criminal-investigative division, or IRS-CI. This will allow them to have firmer control over the unit and weaken IRS lawyers' involvement in criminal probes, as per officials who spoke to WSJ.
- 'Guy Ficco, the chief of the investigative unit, will reportedly be replaced.
- IRS investigators will get a list of individuals and groups, who are left-leaning, and the Trump administration official believes they should be looking at them.
These proposed changes could open the door to politically motivated probes even, with WSJ already reporting that many major Democratic donors are on a list. Trump has already directed Bessent, who's also acting IRS Commissioner, to identify financial networks, which he says are instigating political violence.
