The Trump administration is preparing to make changes to the IRS that would allow the agency to launch criminal investigations of left-leaning groups, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.
The Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter, the push centers on installing Trump allies at the IRS criminal-investigative (IRS-CI) division and reducing the involvement of agency lawyers in those criminal probes.
Those changes could allow politically motivated probes to be pursued, and they’re being driven by Gary Shapley, an advisor to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, according to the report.
Shapley has said that he will replace longtime IRS-CI chief Guy Ficco and has been developing a list of donors and groups he thinks IRS investigators should look into, the Journal reported. That list includes billionaire Democratic donor George Soros and groups affiliated with him, a senior IRS official and another person briefed on the list told the outlet.
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The Trump administration has sought to investigate left-leaning groups it believes are helping finance protests and what the president believes is political violence in Democrat-controlled cities, while critics have said the push is politically motivated and lacks evidence.
President Donald Trump said last month in an appearance on “Fox and Friends” that Soros and others have funded left-leaning protesters and added, “we’re going to look into Soros because I think it’s a RICO case against him and other people, because this is more than like protests. This is real agitation. This is riots in the streets, and we’re going to look into that.”
Trump requested that Bessent, who is currently the acting IRS commissioner, investigate those financial groups and said at a cabinet meeting that, “Scott will do that. That’s easy for Scott.”
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FOX Business reached out to the Treasury Department for comment.
The Journal reported that a Treasury spokesperson said Bessent’s team is bringing the “best of America’s private sector practices and organization” to the IRS and its “focus remains collections, privacy, and customer service.” The spokesperson didn’t answer questions about changes to the IRS’ criminal unit or targets, according to the report.
According to the Journal’s report, the administration has focused on using the IRS-CI division after other efforts to remove the tax-exempt status of certain non-profits faced challenges from IRS lawyers, who argued the agency would need to have a lengthy investigative record to do so legally.
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Bessent said in a Tuesday interview with Andrew Kolvet on “The Charlie Kirk Show,” the effort is similar to Treasury’s efforts to crack down on networks funding terror groups following the 9/11 attacks. Kirk, a conservative activist, was assassinated in September, and 22-year-old Tyler Robinson was charged with murder in Kirk’s killing.
He explained the agency has started to compile lists and put together networks related to groups that have conducted antisemitic and anti-Israel protests since Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023, as well as other groups believed to be linked to violent protests.
“This is mission-critical for us now,” Bessent said. “We are operationalizing this here at Treasury. We are going to track down who is responsible for this.”
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