...which only makes since since the financial dealings of various players such as Paul Manafort, Jared Kushner, and the Twitler, himself, have come under heavy scrutiny in the investigation being conducted by Mueller’s team.
Betsy Woodruff at The Daily Beast:
Special counsel Bob Mueller has teamed up with the IRS. According to sources familiar with his investigation into alleged Russian election interference, his probe has enlisted the help of agents from the IRS’ Criminal Investigations unit.
This unit—known as CI—is one of the federal government’s most tight-knit, specialized, and secretive investigative entities. Its 2,500 agents focus exclusively on financial crime, including tax evasion and money laundering. A former colleague of Mueller’s said he always liked working with IRS’ special agents, especially when he was a U.S. Attorney.
And it goes without saying that the IRS has access to Trump’s tax returns—documents that the president has long resisted releasing to the public.
Potential financial crimes are a central part of Mueller’s probe. One of his top deputies, Andy Weissmann, formerly helmed the Justice Department’s Enron probe and has extensive experience working with investigative agents from the IRS.
Significantly, Ms. Woodruff’s exclusive reporting also reminds us of the fact that one of those open positions that Twitler has not staffed to this point is the head of the DOJ’S Tax Division, a position that will require Senate confirmation...and that might not be good news for Trump.
As special counsel, Mueller is subject to the same rules as U.S. Attorneys. That means that if he wants to bring charges against Trump associates related to violations of tax law, he will need approval from the Justice Department’s elite Tax Division. Trump hasn’t yet named his pick to run the division, which is a post that requires Senate confirmation. At the moment, career officials are helming the division.
One former Tax Division prosecutor told The Daily Beast that this could cause trouble for Trump.
“The fact that there is not a senate-confirmed Assistant Attorney General for the Tax Division, and that the Trump people have disregarded it despite warnings as far back as December that they needed to fill the AAG’s spot… shows what a self-created mess the Trump administration has found itself in,” said the former prosecutor, who requested anonymity to speak candidly. “They have no one to keep Mueller and his Brooklyn team honest. They should be concerned about that.”
This has been a torrid newsday on the TrumpRussia investigation front, to be sure...but I must say that of all the news today, this story is one that I have eagerly awaited and something that I suspected was happening outside of the public eye.
Friday, Sep 1, 2017 · 1:02:20 AM +00:00 · Chitown Kev
In the meantime, The Washington Post has an interesting piece of ‘’palace intrigue’’ up...basically, Gen. John ‘’The Church Lady’’ Kelly is getting on The Don’s last nerve is the gist of the story.
Behind the scenes during a summer of crisis, however, Trump appears to pine for the days when the Oval Office was a bustling hub of visitors and gossip, over which he presided as impresario. He fumes that he does not get the credit he thinks he deserves from the media or the allegiance from fellow Republican leaders he says he is owed. He boasts about his presidency in superlatives, but confidants privately fret about his suddenly dark moods.
And some of Trump’s friends fear that the short-tempered president is on an inevitable collision course with White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly.
Trump chafes at some of the retired Marine Corps general’s moves to restrict access to him since he took the job almost a month ago, said several people close to the president. They run counter to Trump’s love of spontaneity and brashness, prompting some Trump loyalists to derisively dub Kelly “the church lady” because they consider him strict and morally superior.
Friday, Sep 1, 2017 · 3:04:58 AM +00:00
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Chitown Kev
Was just watching Lawrence O’Donnell and learned that in lieu of Trump not having appointed anyone to head the Tax Division of the Justice Department, this is the man in the DOJ who would have the final say so in whether any criminal charges based on tax information would be brought against Trump or any of the other principals like Manafort or Kushner.