一位发言人向ABC新闻证实，美国国税局正在要求政府监管机构审查针对詹姆斯·科米和安德鲁·麦凯布的两项极其罕见的侵入性税务审计。
财政部税收管理监察长将对此事进行分析。
美国联邦调查局(FBI)前局长科米(Comey)和他当时的副手麦凯布(McCabe)都因他们在任内外采取的立场而引起了前总统唐纳德特朗普(Donald Trump)的愤怒。
《纽约时报》据报告的科米和麦凯布是每年吸引这些特殊类型审计的几千名美国人中的两个。
对于科米接受审计的2017纳税年度申报表，只有5000名美国人被选中。对于2018年纳税年度申报表，麦凯布被审计的那一年，选择了8000人。每年都有超过1 . 5亿美国人报税。
国税局发言人表示，任何关于这两个人成为目标的说法都是“荒谬和不真实的”
该发言人补充说，国税局局长查尔斯·雷蒂格(Charles Rettig)在接受媒体关于审计的询问后，“亲自联系了”总检察长。
《泰晤士报》报道称，科米的审计始于2019年11月，麦凯布的审计始于2021年10月。雷蒂格是特朗普任命的人，在两次审计开始时是国税局专员，目前仍是专员。他的任期将于11月到期。
“联邦隐私法禁止我们讨论特定的纳税人情况。审核由职业公务员负责，国税局有强有力的保障措施来保护考试过程，防止出于政治动机的审核，”国税局发言人说。
财政部税务监察长没有回应ABC新闻的置评请求。特朗普的发言人告诉时报，他对这些审计一无所知。
麦凯布告诉美国广播公司新闻，他对为什么他被选中参加这次罕见的审计有疑问。
“像国税局这样的机构能够保持他们所服务的人们的信任是至关重要的，”麦凯布说。“虽然与我打交道的国税局调查员一直都很专业，反应也很迅速，但我对自己是如何被选中进行此次审计的有疑问。我期待着听到他们内部调查的结果，以更多地了解这种所谓的随机执法行动是如何进行的。”
对税收、国税局和财政部拥有管辖权的参议院财政委员会主席、民主党人罗恩·怀登表示，他的小组将研究在这个问题上的潜在行动。
“唐纳德·特朗普不尊重法治，所以如果他试图让他的政治敌人接受国税局的额外审查，这不会让任何人感到惊讶，”怀登在与美国广播公司新闻分享的一份声明中说。“我们需要了解这里发生了什么，因为它引起了严重的关注。雷蒂格专员向我重申，任何不当行为的指控都会得到认真对待，并提交[监察长]进一步审查。”
民主党众议员比尔·帕斯奎尔(Bill Pascrell)更进一步，呼吁总统乔·拜登(Joe Biden)解雇雷蒂格。Pascrell是众议院税收委员会监督小组委员会的主席。
在周四的新闻发布会上，当被问及拜登是否仍然对国税局局长有信心时，白宫新闻秘书郭佳欣·让-皮埃尔只说他“在11月份”
“他是国税局的专员。政府的一部分。我打算就此打住，”让-皮埃尔说。
她不愿进一步置评，并将问题转给了美国国税局。
IRS asks watchdog to review audits of Comey, McCabe
The Internal Revenue Service is asking a government watchdog to review a pair of exceedingly rare and invasive tax audits targeting James Comey and Andrew McCabe, a spokesperson confirmed to ABC News.
The matter will be analyzed by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
Comey, the former director of the FBI, and McCabe, his deputy at the time, both drew the ire of former President Donald Trump for positions they took both in and out of office.
The New York TimesreportedWednesday that Comey and McCabe were two of only several thousand Americans a year to attract these particular types of audits.
For 2017 tax year returns, the return for which Comey was audited, only 5,000 Americans were chosen. For 2018 tax year returns, the year for which McCabe was audited, 8,000 were chosen. More than 150 million Americans filed taxes in each of those years.
An IRS spokesperson said any suggestion that these two individuals were targeted would be "ludicrous and untrue."
IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig "personally reached out" to the inspector general after receiving a press inquiry about the audits, the spokesperson added.
The Times reported that Comey's audit began in November 2019 and McCabe's began in October 2021. Rettig, a Trump appointee, was IRS commissioner at the time both audits began and remains commissioner at this time. His term expires in November.
"Federal Privacy laws preclude us from discussing specific taxpayer situations. Audits are handled by career civil servants, and the IRS has strong safeguards in place to protect the exam process -- and against politically motivated audits," the IRS spokesperson said.
The Treasury Department's inspector general for tax affairs did not respond to ABC News' requests for comment. A spokesperson for Trump told The Times that he had no knowledge of these audits.
McCabe told ABC News he has questions about why he was chosen for this rare audit.
"It is essential that institutions like the IRS can maintain the trust of the people they serve," McCabe said. "While the IRS investigator I dealt with was professional and responsive at all times, I have questions about how I was selected for this audit. I look forward to hearing the results of their internal inquiry to understand more about how this supposedly random enforcement effort is conducted."
Democrat Ron Wyden, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee -- which has jurisdiction over taxes, IRS and the Treasury Department -- said his panel will look at potential action on the issue.
"Donald Trump has no respect for the rule of law, so if he tried to subject his political enemies to additional IRS scrutiny that would surprise no one," Wyden said in a statement shared with ABC News. "We need to understand what happened here because it raises serious concerns. Commissioner Rettig reached out to me to reiterate that any allegations of wrongdoing are taken seriously and are referred to the [inspector general] for further review."
Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell went a step further, calling on President Joe Biden to fire Rettig. Pascrell chairs the Oversight Subcommittee of the Ways and Means Committee, which is the House's tax-writing panel.
When asked during Thursday's press briefing if Biden still has confidence in the IRS chief, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre would only say he is "up in November."
"He is a commissioner of the IRS. Part of the administration. I'm going to leave it at that," Jean-Pierre said.
She would not comment further and referred questions to the IRS.
