at the irs. the irs is sitting on 13 million on process tax returns and over 26 million tax returns that are waiting, needing further irs action. at the same time, irs phone service levels are near all-time lows. making it nearly impossible to reach an irs agent for help with tax or audit matters. many taxpayers have been waiting for resolution to their tax filings and to receive long overdue refunds. this is unfair and it needs to be fixed. i know we will hear from at least one of our witnesses about audit rates and the earned income tax credit mister chairman, we've encountered at least for -- leadership. that have touched on this audit rate issue. and while it is perfectly fine topic, a seventh hearing on this issue doesn't seem designed to make progress toward a solution. the g. a. o. report indicates what we already know, there are real administrative issues around the earned income tax credit. the program has an annual improper payment rate of around 25%. it's not just the irs that's been t

to run the irs. there is a history here. because an audit is so awful, because that data is so private and it's such a powerful tool to abuse it. >> to the point of how invasive it is this took the, call me on it took 15 months. they had to pay their accountant $5,000. there was the agent that worked on at the did over 50 hours of work. comey had to prove to the irs that he actually had the children that he claimed as dependents, and i had to do that by showing the picture a family picture that was in included in the family christmas car to show that he actually had children that he said he did. so we have to go to great lengths to financial yet,, before they were looking from a potential cartridge he bought two years earlier. so that gives you a flavor of how invasive and unusual this audit is. >> yeah and in the and he ended up having the irs owe him some money, right? he had overpaid on his taxes. it was at the end result? i remember correctly. >> for people who have watched jim comey he said it was sort of the ultimate j

to the irs. a technical means 15 months to get through this audit, it cost him $5,000 in accounting fees. they needed an accountant to go back and forth with the irs agent who was doing the audit. >> the interesting thing about these audit is you can't really say, you are the irs, you know that i have kids, why don't you handle that? when they ask you for information, you actually have to provide it. the odds of getting selected for one of these random audits is about one in 30,000 and a little bit, according to your article. the odds that both of these men, who have the same position, back to back, in the same administration, both seen as political enemies of the president in charge, and the irs headed by a mandate that president appointed. it just makes it seem less than random. >> we actually don't in the story, what's the odds are. we don't know how the irs actually randomly selects these people. whether it is weighted in a way, all we know is that the irs says that they are trying to get a f

, controversy at the irs. did the agency target critics of former president trump? the new investigation. >>> and a passenger plane flies 14 hours with a massive hole in its side. hi, i'm eileen. i live in vancouver, washington and i write mystery novels. dogs have been such an important part of my life. i have flinn and a new puppy. as i was writing, i found that i just wasn't as sharp and i new i needed to do something so i started taking prevagen. i realized that i was much more clear and i was remembering the details that i was supposed to. prevagen keeps my brain working right. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. >>> back now with a view from inside a plane making an emergency landing. the single engine plane came down on this highway in western north carolina. the pilot says the engine failed. he landed safely after dodging traffic and power lines. >>> incredible images of a passenger jet in australia. the emirates plane managed to fly 14 hours from dubai to brisbane with a large hole in its side. th

it is far out of the normal experience of the irs. and this annual review they do to test the compliance of the tax system and the noncompliance of the tax system. the audits that are selected are selected by a separate division. they're selected randomly, they're designed to randomly audit taxpayers across the entire spectrum including companies. so on the one hand, it is a very carefully managed process, and reviewed, and i got a lot of confidence in the irs employees, it is a great workforce that i had the privilege of working with for four years, on the other hand, as mr. mccabe says, it is odd at least to see two head of the former head of the fbi and his deputy under great attack to show up in randomly selected audits. they're up to usually about 13,000 audits a year, over a three-year period, to determine the tax gap. and that 13,000 a year is out of 150 million individual taxpayers and over 200 million total returns. so it is, i think, from the standpoint of the irs important for the inspector general, someone to take a look a

of the irs maybe stop a scratch their head. you mentioned a second ago, that charles reddick, the current irs commissioner, he was appointed by donald trump after he supported, in 2016, during that election, that trump not. the quote was that he should absolutely not release his tax returns, and that was according to the washington post. let's also be clear, in his former life as a tax attorney, redding has, quote, defended a billionaire at the irs accused of hiding money in offshore accounts, and venture capitalists, the agency that used accounting to shelter assets. as well as the heirs of a millionaire defense contractors not to fend off inheritance taxes. why with this type of guy, number one, be appointed in the first place, but still be running the irs? i will note that interfere in this type of audit is a felony, it's a federal crime. >> well katie, that's a great question. i think all of us are sitting there as more and more information is coming out about trump's finances, with allegations of impropriety. there's a hug

it could be, to the irs is 75,000 employees. denial of the commission owner was involved is not necessarily closely matter about whether there was political influence. >> oh, absolutely. i mean you could start with the commissioner, we could start elsewhere. it could even be that people were taking what's called, you know, commander activists from the president to initiate this themselves. it didn't come directly from donald trump, for example, but it came from a sympathetic employee within the irs who heard this and said, oh, you know we can pleased their leader? let's mess up these two guys who are his enemies. and then they took it upon him themselves to investigate. if it was done properly, it was done randomly, there's no problem at all. but if you had an email, or memo, or kind of conversation where they selected these two and targeted them simply because of the actions that they took towards the president, then that would be cause for discipline at the very least. >> you know, again, it is not jermaine to the investigatio

of auditing with the irs. it is concerning to think about. you never want any agency or entity of the government to be used against a perceived enemy of a politician or any way shape or form. we want the legitimacy. and you never talked to james comey about this entire situation, is that right? that's correct. >> and this gets right to the heart of something you and i talk about all the time. it goes to the rule of law. this fundamental idea that we have, we should believe and investment, that everyone is treated the same over the law. i would have less reason than anyone to still believe in that because of the way i was treated by the former president and his minions. subjected to a biased, one-sided i.g. investigation that resulted in my wrongful determination, that the department of justice acknowledged by reinstated me last year. i was subjected to a completely baseless two-year criminal investigation, that, of course, resulted in no action taken because no action ever should have been taken. this irs audi

much. >>> ludicrous, says the irs. ludicrous to the suggestion that the agency used audit as political weapons against james comey and andrew mccabe. they are two fbi officials that president trump fired and openly despised. the steps being taken to see if it was coincidence or calculated. >>> she was at the center of a possible love triangle until police say she killed the other woman. the hunt for her led u.s. marshals to costa rica. today they revealed the clues that they followed right to her. >>> derek chauvin is serving 22 years for murdering george floyd. floyd. fery after he pleaded guilty ♪ ♪ strip away what you don't want, like added sugars and preservatives, and what's left is the good stuff. the real fruit and vegetable juices of naked. strip down to naked. welcome to allstate, where you can bundle and save. isn't that right phil? i'm in the metaverse, bundling my home and auto insurance. bundle home and auto and save. call a local agent or 1-888-allstate for a quote today. >> strip away what you don't

like the irs. the occurrence of this one in 30,000 event, twice, for the same people who are targeted in the same way by the former president, and continue to be targeted to this day, i'll add, is -- it is just -- it defies belief. and so is there -- is it possible that there is someone in the irs who has an ability to influence this supposedly random process to go after people that they have some sort of an issue with? yeah, i think that's possible. i think that's what the irs needs to find out by conducting a fair and thorough investigation. >> andy, thank you for being with us. more to come on this story, for sure. we'll be following it. >> all right, thank you, guys. >>> a mysterious monument in georgia, the subject of conspiracy theories about satanism, is destroyed in a bomb attack. we'll have the latest on the manhunt for whoever is behind this. >>> and the breaking news this morning, the british prime minister boris johnson is resigning. live pictures from 10 downing street. we're waiting f

much. >>> ludicrous, says the irs. ludicrous to the suggestion that the agency used audit as political weapons against james comey and andrew mccabe. they are two fbi officials that president trump fired and openly despised. the steps being taken to see if it was coincidence or calculated. >>> she was at the center of a possible love triangle until police say she killed the other woman. the hunt for her led u.s. marshals to costa rica. today they revealed the clues that they followed right to her. >>> derek chauvin is serving 22 years for murdering george floyd. fery after he pleaded guilty inedal civil rights charges he got an earful. >>> the truth with shepard smith will be back in 60 seconds. >> in the future we will travel to magical places with the help of technology. i want my magical future now. i have places to go. rocks to climb, sites to see and flights to catch. i can't wait for what tomorrow will bring. let's enjoy the ride. >> i am the latest hashtag challenge. everyone on social media is trying me. if you

the irs putting that out today. we went to the inspector general, asking to find out whether that investigation will be opened or has been opened, and we haven't heard back. i think at the most basic level about this story and what went on is that it's a lesson, again, in the concept of why a president of the united states should not weigh in on certain questions. so, biden made one remark many, you know, several months ago about a matter related to the january 6th investigations and some things that should people be prosecuted or not, and he was widely criticized for that. trump did this every day and in lots of different ways about a lot of different issues. at the same time, he tried to use the arms of the federal government in ways that we couldn't even have made up coming into the administration if we were trying to brainstorm what you could do. he also tried to use the federal government and, you know, the political -- his political apparatus around the country to overturn an election. when you have a presiden

most intensive, random audits the irs does. one of them, former fbi deputy director andrew mccabe, who is my guest tonight. the other, according to the new york times, former fbi director james comey. this all went down back in 2017, and the times report points out the odds of being selected for this kind of audit, that year, were roughly one mac and 30,000. andrew mccabe joins me now. i've got to tell you when i hear the odds, or think about this coincidence, kind of like when you are at the airport and someone says, you've been randomly selected you go, really, every flight i've taken i've been randomly taken out of this line. am i flag in some way? trump fired you and james comey and accuse both of you i would ask, of treason. what are the odds here. that the two of you, high ranking fbi officials considered by trump to be political enemies would be so randomly selected here. did you know at the time, there was this connection between you and james comey and these audits? >> laura, i had no idea. so, i actually got noticed a

that is the responsible thing for the irs to do in these circumstances. i am glad that the head of the agency made the referral and it looks like they are going to take it up. the question is, will they do it quickly and thoroughly? and more important lee, will they make those results public? i think the answer should be yes to all of these things but we will see. i was discouraged to hear their comments about it last night to declare it ludicrous without even looking into it as a pretty prophetic act of prejudging the entire issue so is good to see that it will actually get investigated. >> as a former federal investigator have to ask what is your level of suspicion that something happened that wasn't by the book? >> you know, when i received the notice back in october of 2021, i accepted it at its face. i took the irs for their word that it is an entirely random process that people are selected . there is nothing that trips this sort of audit, but, honestly, as an investigator, i don't like to make conclusions about things i don't know. i like to focus

by the irs? it's about one in 82 million according to a "new york times" calculation. that's exactly what happened to former fbi director james comey and his deputy who replaced him when he was fired until he was fired by donald trump. he was the acting fbi director for a few months. both were fired by trump into the russia investigation. "the new york times" reporting the audits took place under trump appointed irs commissioner charles reddic, who is still on the job. the irs is denying any wrongdoing. reddic said it's done by career bureaucrats. the audit cost nearly $5,000 in accountant fees. comey had to send the irs a christmas card to prove how many children he had. mccabe's audit began in 2021, months after trump left office. mccabe reacted to the reporting. >> we were talking about a coincidence that really is almost impossible statistically. it wasn't until i found out about jim comey's audit that i started wondering that this can't possibly be random. >> joining us now is chuck rosenber

and many criminals are posing as the irs. jill shlessinger now with the best way to protect yourself. >> the irs is warning that once again scam artists are posing as the tax agency to rip off americans. millions of people have received fake emails or texts that appear to be from the irs. they're promising a tax refund or a stimulus payment if you just click on a link. the criminals are trying to get personal information or they claim that the victim has to pay a fee before the fake refund can be sent. con-artists are also trying to scare people into paying up with calls like this one. >> we're reaching you to inform you that irs is filing a lawsuit against you. >> it is important to know that the irs does not demand payment or ask for credit or debit card information over the phone. also agents will not reach out to you through text or social media. it is not just older americans falling for this scam and others, the federal trade commission said 41% of people who lost money last year were in their 20s. to report a fraud or

could that have happened here with the irs? i think it is absolutely a possibility that needs to be looked into. >> the white house would not say on thursday if president biden maintains confidence in the irs commissioner, he has been serving since 2018, are you confident that he is doing what needs to be done? >> i was discouraged by their initial reaction, the statements from the irs referring to the whole thing as ludicrous, which obviously, it is not ludicrous, but they did make the right referral, the ig is now, has got the matter for investigation so let's wait and see how they handle that. >> do you have any message for the people that are investigating this? any potential prosecution that you would like to see if there is one? >> i just feel like we need to understand completely and thoroughly what happened here. i have no doubt that the irs is populated almost entirely you know, by loyal patriotic dedicated men and women, who are , who have taken an oath to support and defend the constitution and do their jobs well eve

the irs says it's referred it to the inspector general for review. this is not the only issue around abuse of power. take republican senator lindsey graham who has tried to help trump every which way. he's just been hit with a subpoena over his conduct in an election in a state he doesn't live in. this is georgia. this is when he was chair of the judiciary committee, and to defend his actions, graham now says this was done, quote, as chairman of the senate judiciary committee, and thus he was within his rights. i just want to stop right there and say, that is a wild and bizarre admission. it would be one thing for someone who is both in power and a candidate or involved in a campaign to say, as part a that campaign they were just calling up and trying to advocate to win, which can be done during and after the election. bush v. gore. you have all that jockeying. but here lindsey graham admits he was trying to help trump as chair of the judiciary committee, which would appear to be wrong and an abuse of power for political ends, which is why this is br

the irs went after just more than comey and mccabe, they will discover this list of people that the irs went after, is a more extensive list in this. what it shows, as we talked about in the previous two panels on various things is that donald trump has been a danger to this country. he's been a danger to the constitution, he's been a danger to our democracy. and all the things donald trump has said and done, makes richard mix and look like aj walker. >> brittani, weaponizing a government agency is, i would personally say seems like another page of the old trump playbook. but to weaponize a tax agency when it's been well documented that he's often found ways out of pain taxes, himself even refused to share his tax records with the american public. what do you make of the story? >> clearly, hypocrisy means nothing to donald trump, i used to watch the early days of the apprentice, so i'm not at all surprised that this is possible. but, if this is happening to two of the highest ranking officials in federal law enforcement, then what do you think is happening to shea moss and ruby freeman,

how is the irs responding to this? >> we have a new statement from the irs saying that the head of the agency, the commissioner who was appointed by trump, reached out personally to the inspector general yesterday after being called for comment by the "the new york times." what are the odds and chances that two former executives of the fbi, two people investigating trump, how did they turn up? >> what are the odds? >> like 1 in 30,000. per year that are inswept up in this. something that people hope to get to the bottom of. andy mccabe was on cnn breaking the new that is the irs made the referral. let's listen to what he had to say. >> that's the responsible thing for the irs to do under these circumstances. i'm glad that the head of the agency made the referral and looks like the ig will take it up. the question is will they do it quickly, thoroughly and make the results public? the answer should be yes to all those things but we'll see. >> we are also hearing bipartisan support for this review. democratic chair of th

just to put those in perspective, the way the law works in the united states is irs audits are randomly selected, completely and utterly randomly selected so the odds of getting one are about one and 30,000, that's according to the new york times. you have comey and mccabe, both of the fbi guys getting one. here's what mccabe said about this. >> address defies logic to think that there wasn't some other factor involved here. i think that's a reasonable question . >> so caras is out front and you been reporting on this, as one former irs commissioner said, lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place, so, what more are you learning about these audits and the inspector general investigation? we learned the irs commissioner a trump appointee, made this referral yesterday after they were contacted by the new york times with these details about these unusual audits into these two figures, who were critics of trump and who trump was critical of. so the inspector general's office has not returned our request for comment but these are computer-generated audits and the one thing the inspecto

, the top deputy say they were both audited by the top irs after they angered the then president. johnson finally deciding that math was overwhelming. that after nearly 60 cabinet ministers resigned their post in just the past 48 hours. johnson today speaking out 10 downing street was trademarked defiant. instead, johnson laid out a bullet point list of what he considers considerable achievement during his nearly 3 year watch . >> is inflicted lies, fraud and chaos in the country. and bring a vote of no- confidence because we can't go on with his prime minister clinging on for months and months to come . it will be actively contesting. the overall impression that it is back to business as usual . in the current process of picking a replacement for johnson which he did not detail and didn't say when it would take could take weeks or even months . uncharted without a doubt. what does happen now ? >> it has shifted the party base to the right and they have also done that to the campaign of brexit which will feature larger despite having a few weeks ago in this upcoming leadership. fi

given the growing scrutiny the agency says the irs commissioner asked the treasury department's inspector general to conduct the review. in a statement to cnn the irs denies that there were any, quote, politically motivated audits and called the idea, quote, ludicrous and untrue. let's get some perspective now from a former irs commissioner under presidents obama and trump, john koskinen. john, thank you so much for being with us tonight. i think all of us have many, many questions about this. andrew mccabe responded to the irs. he called the idea of politically targeted audits ludicrous. i want to show you what mccabe had to say and get your reaction on the other side. take a look. >> it's clearly not ludicrous. we're talking about a coincidence that really is almost impossible statistically. americans need to be able to have trust and faith that the institutions they rely on are conducting their business in a fair and impartial manner, and there's an indication here that that might not be happening. >> so commissioner, do you think it's ludicrous to think that there might be something p

the irs said earlier in response to the new york times story said the decision on the audit is made by career people, not political people. the irs says it's ludicrous and untrue to suggest that senior irs officials somehow targeted specific individuals for these very intensive audits. for me's taxes in 2017 and 2019, these are very rarely done. one out of every something like 19,000 taxpayers. so the idea the both the director and then the man who followed him as acting director of the fbi during the time donald trump was under investigation would both be audited seemed like something of an astonishing coincidence at the very least. in any event the irs now says there will be an inspector general instigation of how this happened. >> thank you for that reporting. >>> turning to weather hill with a january 6 committee in final prep mode. it's going to be an important next few days. tomorrow they are sent to interview pat. that is not something we're going to see publicly. it's going to happen behind closed doors. it will be transcribed and videotaped but it's certainly possible, not out

you guessed it here ago came back to the irs. jeannette says an irs employee told her over the phone that her social security number was marked in 2010 as belonging to a deceased person and that the system was just now catching up. she says it's never been an issue when she's the one who is owed money and old 2018, 1300. put into my account. woke up 2 days later, morris, the $1300 that was owed to them. >> or when taxes come for department of defense paycheck. >> and even taking taxes that's the number. 46 news. >> jeannette says she needs the money to catch up on medical bills for major surgery that left are out of work for 4 months. in 2020, they moved everything out on left side, my kidney, my left. kidney spleen. half my pancreas. 3 weeks ago, filed her 2020 return in person. again, she says an employee promised overnighted to the government and that was the last she heard. >> there's nothing i can get through to one long holes and any in so i haven't got i-76 so i can from a 2021 until i see what they want to do with the 202

over the years we reached out to the irs into a spokesman at said you can tell us the number, $18 billion is a big number. why don't you put controls in place, basic accounting controls in place to prevent the mistaken and improper payments? they said we would need a bigger budget to do that. they can tell us there's 18 billion goinge out the door mistakenly and improperly paid but they can't stop it. there's no club act, patron our guest with us taking a look at spin it would ask him questions it is? >> guest: -- 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 republicans. >> translator: and independents and you can text is a 202-748-8003. one of the other figures you report highlights is what happens when a government extends the state of emergency particularly in covid? kenya highlight that? >> guest: every single quarter in the entire system on the nation's response to covid is built on the national emergency. if you take away the national emergency a lot of your therapeutics, your vaccines, a lot of what encompasses the entire national healthcare response would go away. it's only off the ri

now, concerns that the trump administration may have weaponnized the irs. that is the question after the "new york times" report that two of trumps foes were the subjects of intensive and extremely rare tax audits. the "times" put the probability of their 2016 and 2019 tax reforms respectfully being chosen at one in 82 million. yikes. given the growing scrutiny the irs commissioner asked the treasure department inspector general to conduct the review. in a statement the irs denies there were any quote politically motivated audits and called the idea untrue. >> thank you for being with us tonight. i think all of us have many, many, many questions about this. andrew mccabe responded to it. i want to show you what he had to say and get your reaction, take a look. >> it is not ludicrous, americans need to know they are conducting their responsibilities in a fair manner and it may not be happening. >> do you think it is ludicrous, there might be something foul afoot here? >> normally, just two people who live inside the same neighborhood or worked at the same co

and exclusive interview at the fulton county da. plus, did trump use the irs to target his enemies? stay with us. to to target hissuggests the scientis. so they shoot it. hmm... back to the miro board. dave says “feed it?” and dave feeds it. and so our humble team saves the day by working together. on miro. every search you make, every click you take, every move you make, every step you take, i'll be watching you. the internet doesn't have to be duckduckgo is a free all in one privacy app with a built in search engine, web browser, one click data clearing and more stop companies like google from watching you, by downloading the app today. duckduckgo: privacy, simplified. among my patients, i often see them have teeth sensitivity as well as gum issues. does it worry me? absolutely. sensodyne sensitivity & gum gives us the dual action effect that really takes care of both our teeth sensitivity as well as our gum issues. there's no question it's something that i would recommend. ♪ i want to rock and roll all night ♪ ♪ and party every day. ♪ ♪ i want to rock and roll all n

stop first of all about what the irs says because the irs is vietnam denying that they targeted co-knee and mccabe and there's an irs spokesperson that came out and said quote, it is ludicrous and untrue to the just that the senior irs official somehow targeted specific individuals for national research program audits. let's talk about the reporting that you have though, about the likelihood of that even happening. statistically when you look at things, what do you make of it? is it some strange coincidence, or is it something else? >> yeah i mean, i think the important thing from the statement you just read is that word specific. so what we are doing here is we are sort of after the fact going back and trying to assess how likely is it that these two particular individuals would be picked up for audits. the answer to that is it is microscopically unlikely. the odds that, if you set out to pick mccabe and kony as getting audits, the odds are really really really low. but the new york times also had a piece by their upshot group which does a lot of graph analysis, which pointed out that

he did it with the irs commissioner. he also had larry o'brien, the chairman of the democratic national committee audited. there's a very specific way to get to this, and that's looking at all the documentation relating to the audit, trying to figure out who touched the returns, who asked for the audit, how did it originate. irs has very specific documents that one has to fill out before they do anything on this kind of investigation. and that should -- the question is will that lead right back to the white house. >> charles p. red dig whose term expires in november, he was basically allowed by the current president to stay in until his term expired, it is just to be clear, nick ackerman, a crime for anyone at the irs to call for the audit of any individual person, right? >> no question about it, absolutely a crime. we did not have enough evidence to actually prosecute anybody for that crime, but it's a fairly easy crime to investigate, and i'm sure as a result of this article that came out in the times tonight that some

deputy being audited by the irs. they both were. it's a bit coincidence, we'll tell you what the trump appointed head of the irs says about it next. you what the trum when you have technology that's easier to control... that can scale across all your clouds... appointed head of the ir so you can do more incredible things. [whistling] s in one easy appointment... >> tech: when you have auto glass damage, itrust safelite.s. ♪ pop rock music ♪ >> tech: ...we can replace your windshield and recalibrate your advanced safety system. >> dad: looks great. thanks. >> tech: stay safe with safelite. schedule now. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ about it next. the internal revenue services were exhaust the tax audits of two of trump's foes are now heading to an internal watchdog for review. it's up to the treasury department's inspector general to investigate whether trump's opinions of former fbi director james comey and his deputy are pleading to the irs's decision -- >> comey was very unpopular with

at the time both audits occurred, the irs was run by a trump appointee. comey, who said trump demanded his loyalty in a private dinner, was fired four months after trump took office. it led to robert mueller's investigation into possible links between the trump campaign and russia. it also led to mccabe's promotion to acting fbi director before he, too, was fired one day before he was set to retire. in a statement to the "times," the irs notes any allegations of wrongdoing are passed along for further review. a trump spokesman told the paper the former president had, quote, no knowledge of those audits. joining us now, the author of the new reporting, "new york times" correspondent, national security analyst michael schmidt. michael, good morning. how rare is this audit? and is there any possibility it is actually a coincidence, that these two men, the targets of donald trump's ire for many years now, were audited in the same years? >> well, you know, lightning can strike, and lightning can strike in the same area that it had struck before. so unusual and

up to and including the time that finally worked at the ire and see. >> also this week, jill, the senate rules committee. holding the first -- electoral count act. explain to us how changing that law could help prevent another january 6th. >> it's very complicated, unfortunately. but under the current law, some of the things that were it tempted might have worked and might have been legal. and so, the changes that are necessary are to prevent that from happening. and needs to be clear that states need to appoint electors who reflect the vote of the people in the state. not of the legislators in the state. that's where the problem comes in. it's that the legislators can say, well, we don't really care what you voted for, we don't like that. we're gonna claim fraud and we're gonna point other people. so i think the major change that's necessary is to make sure that our votes, as they are cast, determine who the electors are. of course, and my point of view, we should eliminate the electoral college entirely. it was formed in a time when communications were very different than they are now.

guest: you don't need to double the size of the irs. the irs, is the most feared agency. the last thing they want is for it to be doubled to equip them with 80 billion more dollars. is the irs asking for this or is it administration? administration? i have asked those direct questions to the irs commissioner and i have a lot of concerns. host: what have they said? guest: he said he would get back with me so i am waiting for that response. that was in the last couple of weeks. i would love to see who is asking for this $80 billion? is it the white house or the irs? host: we will start with joe from new orleans on our line for the democrats. joe, thank you for calling. caller: good morning. the republicans always complain that we never have a solution. they never say what republicans are going to do, all they can say is that the democrats don't do a, b and c. you did it with president obama, you are doing it now. all you do is say no and complain. you conveniently forget that there was a pandemic. there are people who died so therefore there are positions, jobs that are ope

tonight, as f investigations began, the trump appointee who still runs the irs response, the reporter who broke that story joins me live. then, on the january six committee of the big interview with white house counsel. plus david, hard on what we're learning about the father's role in the lethal gun sale before the highland park massacre.

. >>> tonight, the head of the irs is asking a agency's watchdog to investigate the decision to conduct rare tax youaudits of js c c comey and andrew mccabe. thanks for joining us. do you believe you and comey were targeted by the irs? just how invasive was that audit that went on? >> well, wolf, i don't know if jim and i were targeted but there are a lot of facts that point in that direction. certainly enough that should compel and seems to have compelled the irs to take a hard look at it. the odds that the two of us would be selected for something that is supposedly a random program are really incalc uable and we have both been targeted by the former president, have been continuously harassed by him. we were both targeted and basically run out of our jobs by that kind of pressure and harassment. so i think it's absolutely a matter worthy of investigation. >> let's move on to some other important news while i have you, andrew. we've getting new body campaign video of the raid against jeffrey clark. it's not clear if clark is the subject of a criminal investigation but based on the fact

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. >>> a new warning from the irs. scam artists are once again posing as the tax agency to rip people off. criminals are calling and sending out texts saying people owe money. jill joins us live from new york this morning. thank you very much for joining us. >> great to be with you. >> so, jill, what are the biggest red flags that people need to look out for with these? these have been going on for quite a bit now. >> you're right. they're only getting worse, by the way. most important thing to remember is the irs, 99% of the time, uses the u.s. postal service, snail mail. they're old school. that means the agency will never call to demand immediate payment using a specific method like a prepaid debit card, gift card or wire transfer. they will never threaten to bring in local police. they don't demand taxes be paid without giving you a chance to question or appeal. they're never asking for credit or debit card numbers over the phone. the irs does not use email, text or social media to discuss your personal tax issues

there will be a race to the bottom. the irs is underfunded by an absurd amounts of money. the irs commissioner testified yesterday were losing about a trillion dollars from tax cheats it's largely the wealthy corporations. bunch of the stuff can be addressed. it's just that we have to have the will to address it. and we have got a political system where the people have the will to address it come across party lines is not matter. biden's infrastructure plan is more popular by about ten points when you tell them corporations are going to pay for it. they're going to correct this injustice. it's very interesting. we have to make the political will stronger than the donor will. that's the moment we are in. everything you see in the u.s. it feeds into trade agreements. that is how the whole international system breaks down. that leadership from america is critical. go ahead maurice. >> the decision our government, or people making -- president agnes wright there's a race to the bottom. one side i'll once they win the race get to the bottom were quickly the other side of the ai

they were reporting profits to the shareholders into the irs there saying their broker. maurice, how do they do this? systemic there's a couple different reasons is a bunch of different reasons. one of the main ones we talk about that president biden wants to address is the fact that they kind of pretend is the best word. they pretend they make all their money in a different country than they actually make it. the example used is starbucks. starbucks mostly sells coffee in the united states of america. it started right down the street in seattle. and they have expanded all over the country and other countries too. but what they managed to do a lot of companies do this is they have something called intellectual property. those are things like patents, trademarks, the rights to use a logo. things like that. things you can move with the click of a mouse as opposed to like buildings and land that cannot be moved. and then, one of these companies this is drug companies and other companies including starbucks they say oh we have an affiliate and some other country like ireland

something the irs should spend time on. it's really smart. hopefully, they make their way through the house and the senate. >> is that a currency? it's a lot of money in crypto. would you buy a pizza like the first guided? would you buy a pizza with crypto? >> that coin today, it's like a currency. you don't walk around with gold coins in your pocket. same thing. the average holder, is going to use it as a store of value. it's really the currency aspect of it. it's the payment itself. it's the technology. the block team allows us to migrate from these 80 or 90- year-old technologies. it's a different currency element. the average holder is going to spend for coffee or donuts. >> if i believe bitcoin is going to $100,000, i own a bunch and i have made a lot of money. why would i buy anything because if it goes to 100,000, i have overpaid by 400%. i think we need a new name. >> really good point. i think the real issue, store value, versus meeting of exchange. other ones do a really good job. gas, for example, heavily used in places like venezu

the fact is that the irs is underfunded by an absurd amount of money, the irs commissioner, i think, testified yesterday, released about a trillion dollars from tax cheats and it's largely the wealthy and corporations, so a bunch of this stuff can be addressed, it's just that we have to have the will to address it. and we've got a political system where the people have the will to address it, across party lines, it doesn't matter. okay? biden's infrastructure plan is more popular by about 10 points when you tell people that corporations are going to pay for it. you know? and they're going to correct this injustice. that's very interesting. you know, but we have to make the political will stronger than the owner will. that's the moment that we're in, because everything that you see in the u.s., it feeds into trade agreements and that's how the whole international system breaks down, and the leadership from america is critical. go ahead, morris. >> the decision our government collectively, our people collectively are making, is really that president biden is right, there's a race to th

well, that in turn has drawn the ire of ukraine. meanwhile, germany is looking for other ways to fill the gaps left by russia, but some solutions are more comfortable than others. germany consumes one trillion kilowatt hours of gas per year. the lion's share comes from russia. since the invasion of ukraine, germany has been desperately trying to lean itself off russian gas. when the war began, germany received 55 percent of its supply from russia. german politicians and officials met with counterparts around the world to rapidly diversify its sources of gas. economy minister, robert havoc travel to could tar in march. the country is one of the world's largest exporters of liquefied gas. it agree to an energy partnership with germany, to help develop alternatives and expand terminals for the fuel. the german government move to the early warning stage for the countries gas supply by the end of march, saying it was a precaution in case supply diminished. by april, germany's dependence on russian gas fell to 35 percent. the russian energy supply was replaced by gas from norway and the net