Effort would install Trump ally at agency’s criminal unit who has drawn up list of investigative targets Shapley has told people that he is going to replace Guy Ficco, the chief of the investigative unit, who has been at the agency for decades, and that Shapley has been putting together a list of donors and groups he believes IRS investigators should look at. Among those on the list are the billionaire Democratic donor George Soros and his affiliated groups, according to a senior IRS official and another person briefed on the list. It couldn’t be determined upon what grounds Shapley would seek to begin such an investigation. The effort within the IRS coincides with a larger administration effort to probe left-leaning groups... Trump has ordered Bessent as the acting IRS commissioner to refer certain tax-exempt organizations to the Justice Department for further investigation. Bessent has also been directed to use the Treasury’s terrorism and financial-intelligence office to examine groups’ financial flows and try to trace any illicit funding streams.
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