Ron Wyden And Scott Bessent Spar Over Questions About Trump's Settlement With The IRS

[0:00] Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. [0:02] Secretary, yesterday acting attorney general Todd Blanche indicated that the administration [0:07] is not moving forward with the slush fund, but there's been no indication of what this [0:12] means for the Trump alleged IRS audit immunity. [0:17] So my first question is, does the IRS audit immunity given to Trump, his family and his [0:23] businesses still stand? [0:27] I'd like a yes or no answer to that. [0:34] I got five minutes, I'm going to use them for these questions. [0:44] Okay. [0:45] So that we understand what's at stake here. [0:48] This immunity deal is the biggest scam against the taxpayer in American history, and Americans [0:56] are going to pay taxes, and Trump and his clan won't. [1:00] So we'll start with that. [1:02] Now, my second question is, every president's tax return gets audited, Mr. Secretary. [1:07] Who originated the May 19th addendum canceling Trump's audits? [1:11] Is it Trump, DOJ, or Treasury? [1:13] Again, sir, as Albert Einstein said, they're doing the same thing and expecting a different [1:18] answer is the definition of insanity. [1:21] You've given no answers on this subject, and that's why I'm going to ask these questions. [1:25] And because, as I said, there's ongoing litigation. [1:27] Does the DOJ have the authority to settle a tax dispute unilaterally? [1:33] The DOJ acts as the attorney, they have four Treasury and the IRS. [1:38] So the tax code says the DOJ can only settle a tax dispute if you, the Treasury Secretary, [1:44] first deferred the dispute to DOJ in the case we're talking about. [1:49] So here, Trump, his kids, all of the business entities they own, potentially thousands of [1:54] tax returns. [1:55] And unless you referred every single one of those tax returns to DOJ, the addendum is invalid, [2:02] or the Treasury and the IRS believe have been more involved in this scandal, as far [2:08] as I can tell, than you've led us to believe. [2:11] So I'm going to keep digging into the timetable here. [2:13] Career IRS attorneys wrote a 25-page memo preparing defenses against Trump's lawsuit, and they [2:20] recommended DOJ move to have Trump's lawsuit dismissed. [2:24] The IRS reportedly gave this memo to Treasury officials in April before the settlement. [2:29] Did you see that memo? [2:31] Again, there's continuing litigation, and I'm unable to answer. [2:37] Mr. Chairman, I'm going to continue my questions, but I would like to ask you now to authorize [2:52] the 6103 waiver and for Mr. Besson to waive the attorney-client privilege, which I guess [2:58] is part of what he's up to. [3:00] I will not, I'm not quite sure what you're asking, but I will not agree to ask him to [3:06] waive his attorney-client privilege. [3:08] The way we're going to get to the bottom of it is to have the committee look at these [3:12] matters in a bipartisan way, and I'm going to continue with the questions that highlight [3:17] my argument. [3:18] The Biden administration prosecuted Charles Littlejohn, the Booz Allen contractor who [3:22] leaked Trump's tax returns. [3:24] Booz Allen, which helped with the prosecution, held contracts with the Treasury Department for [3:29] years. [3:30] Three days before Trump filed his lawsuit this year, you abruptly canceled all the contracts. [3:36] It is hard to see that timing be a coincidence. [3:40] Did you know in advance that Trump was going to file a suit against the IRS? [3:44] I did not. [3:44] All right. [3:47] I've written to you twice asking for records related to this decision. [3:51] Both times you refused. [3:52] I'll ask again. [3:53] Will you send the committee all records documenting this decision so we can review this in a bipartisan [4:00] fashion? [4:01] Again, there is ongoing litigation, and Senator Howie got here was a violation of President [4:08] Trump's 6103 rights, and it wasn't just President Trump. [4:12] There were 400,000 tax returns that were leaked by Mr. Littlejohn, and I will point out that [4:19] Mr. Littlejohn was not prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. [4:23] The Biden administration, he was eligible to be prosecuted on three counts. [4:27] The Biden administration chose a light touch and only prosecuted him on two counts. [4:32] We're going to continue these questions, and I come back to my point, Mr. Chairman. [4:39] We need you to support this 6103 waiver so that this committee on a bipartisan basis can [4:44] look into a matter like this. [4:46] When you're talking about the president of the United States, it doesn't get any more important. [4:50] And I'll just close my opening effort to try to ferret out the facts here, Mr. Chairman, [4:56] by saying, Mr. Secretary, this whole settlement, in my view, is the most brazen abuse of power [5:03] ever in our history. [5:04] And as of now, every American is subject to audit except Donald Trump and his family. [5:11] I think that's absurd, and you've been dodging questions. [5:13] Each one of these, you had a legal argument for saying nothing. [5:18] And I suspect you cleared the way for Trump's lawsuit when you canceled the contracts. [5:22] And I suspect people right up to the highest level of the Treasury Department had a hand [5:27] in crafting this unbelievably corrupt gift of a settlement. [5:31] And I just want it understood colleagues. [5:33] I want to work with every senator on this committee to get to the bottom of this because we aren't [5:38] getting the facts. [5:39] And the secretary, in spite of the fact that he owes answers to the American people, is [5:44] just dodging and bobbing and weaving. [5:46] Thank you.