Senior IRS lawyer to leave post after reported White House clashes
Ken Kies is expected to exit the IRS after reports that he resisted Trump administration pressure involving tax audits and a disputed settlement.
By Sofia Marchetti · World Affairs Correspondent
3 min read
Ken Kies, the Internal Revenue Service’s acting chief counsel, is expected to leave his role after reported disputes with President Donald Trump’s administration over the tax agency’s independence. Reuters and The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Kies was being pushed out, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.
Kies also served as assistant secretary for tax policy at the Treasury Department. According to Reuters and other outlets, he had warned Trump administration officials against directing the IRS on tax audits, an area where federal law sharply limits White House involvement.
The Internal Revenue Code bars the president, vice president and executive office employees from asking the IRS to start or stop an audit or other investigation of a specific taxpayer. The rule is meant to prevent presidents and their aides from using tax enforcement against political opponents or shielding allies, according to the statute cited in the reports.
Reuters and The Wall Street Journal did not identify a specific White House request that led to the reported conflict. The reports come during broader scrutiny of Trump’s relationship with the tax agency, which is part of the executive branch he oversees.
Audit interference concerns
Concerns about political pressure on the IRS have a long history in Washington. Former President Richard Nixon sought an IRS chief who would target enemies and protect friends, remarks that later became part of the evidence in impeachment proceedings before Nixon resigned in 1974.
Trump has faced criticism from opponents who accuse him of trying to use tax powers for personal or political purposes. Since returning to office, he has threatened Harvard University’s tax-exempt status amid a dispute over the school’s handling of pro-Palestinian protests and admissions practices, according to Al Jazeera.
Trump also sued the IRS in January, accusing the agency of responsibility for an outside contractor’s leak of his tax returns in 2017. The returns later drew wide public attention, including coverage by The New York Times in 2019. Trump sought $10bn in damages, though critics said the case raised conflict-of-interest concerns because the IRS and the Justice Department both fall under presidential authority.
Disputed settlement struck down
In May, the Justice Department announced a settlement that would have given Trump and his family immunity from IRS audits and created a $1.8bn “anti-weaponisation fund” for people found to have suffered unfair government prosecution, according to Al Jazeera. US District Judge Kathleen Williams in south Florida rejected that settlement last week.
Williams wrote that the Justice Department had abdicated its duty to defend the United States’ interests and described the proposed deal as government self-dealing. Addressing the audit-immunity provision, she cited the Internal Revenue Code’s ban on executive interference in audits.
Media reports said Kies declined to work on the IRS settlement. Reuters also reported that he had disagreements with the administration over tax issues involving high-value provisions, including tax breaks for landowners who restrict development on their property.
Brian Morrissey, the Treasury Department’s former general counsel, resigned in May over the settlement agreement, according to the reports. Kies had previously worked as a personal tax lawyer for Trump before taking posts in the administration.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.