The Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation unit has reportedly been tapped by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office to help investigate financial ties between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia.
According to a report Thursday in the Daily Beast, Mueller’s office has turned to the Criminal Investigation unit because of the extensive financial expertise of its agents. Mueller, a former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has experience working with IRS agents employed by the unit during joint investigations by the FBI and the IRS of crimes such as tax evasion and money laundering. By teaming with the IRS, Mueller might presumably get access to Trump's tax returns, which the president has so far refused to release.
The IRS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mueller’s office is also reportedly now working with New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on the investigation of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort’s financial transactions with Russia, according to Politico.
Robert S. Mueller III, Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation ,testifies during a hearing of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, April 14, 2004 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. U.S. intelligence agencies were slow to grasp the growing threat of al-Qaeda in the 1990s and failed to develop a plan to thwart the terrorist network, says a staff report by the commission studying the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Photographer: Chris Kleponis/Bloomberg News
The New York State Legislature passed a bill establishing an additional pathway to CPA licensure, and another bill authorizing the use of electronic signatures.
