Overview
- Reports on Friday say Kenneth Kies, who serves as assistant Treasury secretary and acting IRS chief counsel, is expected to depart the department in the coming weeks after clashing with White House officials.
- People familiar with the matter told reporters that Kies told administration officials a recent proposed request would likely violate Section 7217, which makes it unlawful to ask the IRS to start or stop an audit of a particular taxpayer.
- News organizations say the accounts rely on anonymous sources and that no public details have identified the specific White House request Kies objected to, so the matter remains developing.
- Some officials cited in reporting criticized Kies’s temperament and work style as a factor in his removal, while Kies and Treasury have declined to comment publicly on the dispute.
- The episode follows earlier legal fights between President Trump and the IRS, including a January lawsuit and a proposed but later shelved $1.776 billion settlement fund, and could prompt closer congressional and watchdog scrutiny of White House-IRS interactions.