Trump GOES DARK as his former Tax Lawyer QUITS at IRS after being ORDERED to AUDIT Trump Targets!

We got some breaking news that involves Donald Trump's attempts to politicize and weaponize the Internal Revenue Service.The acting General Counsel, Ken Keis, has now resigned.Ken Keis used to be Donald Trump's personal tax lawyer and lobbyist, Ken Keis has resigned rather than allow the White House to violate a federal criminal statute that prevents the White House from directing traffic on who is going to be audited.Under a federal law from 1998 under the IRS Restructuring Reform Act, the White House is not allowed to direct traffic and order the IRS to audit anyone for fear that it will be weaponized.Statute 26, United States Code 7217, and Ken Keist has thrown in the towel.We've got a new potential whistleblower.

This just a month and a half after the original general counsel, Brian Morrissey, resigned moments after Todd Blanche, who is about to be confirmed as the Attorney General, executed a settlement agreement, giving Donald Trump and his family a super pardon against all tax liability and tax audits.That was too much for Brian Morrissey.And apparently the last straw for Ken Keis was that White House ordering him to violate a federal statute that has a five -year prison sentence attached to it.I'm Michael Popock.You're here on Saturday on Legal AF.Let's get down to the chaos that has engulfed the Internal Revenue Service, which sits under the Treasury Secretary, Scott Besant, who's also in the back pocket of Donald Trump.

All right, let's get to it.Back in May, when Todd Blanche executed that now infamous fraudulent plan, to use a suit in Miami.that was illegitimate between Trump and his own Internal Revenue Service to create the Jan 6th Anti -Weaponization Fund.I've said from the beginning, that was not Donald Trump's goal.Donald Trump's goal was what Todd Blanche did the next day when he entered into a settlement agreement amendment by himself, unilaterally signed it by himself and gave carte blanche, pardon, to Donald Trump, his family, his companies, his affiliates for tax and audit exposure and liability.A blanket pardon, a super pardon, if you will.

Something that even the United States Supreme Court did not give him.Well, that apparently was a bridge too far for Brian Morrissey.the then General Counsel who resigned.Now he resigned quietly.He thanked everybody on the way out.You know, he wants to live another day after Donald Trump's term is over and doesn't want to be seen as a traitor.

But that was obviously something.It was even that event of him resigning was even cited by Judge Williams in her 56 -page opinion excoriating Todd Blanche and Donald Trump and his private lawyers in throwing out or effectively calling the quote -unquote settlement what it is, a non -settlement.And the issue of whether fraud on the court had been perpetrated by Todd Blanche, not yet settled.Morrissey gone.Who is he replaced by?By the way, you're on Legal AF.

Take a moment, hit that free subscribe button.He's replaced by Ken Kice, who becomes the head of the Tax Litigation Department of the Internal Revenue Service, but also the Assistant Secretary of Tax Policy, and became the Acting General Counsel, or Chief Counsel, while Brian Morrissey's position had not yet been filled.Now, he's clashed with theTrump administration before as they think he was going too slow.They were pushing through all the anti -Biden policies in favor of the oligarchs and the billionaires just fast enough.Ken Keist getting grilled by Elizabeth Warren several months ago.

I wanted you to see it.Here's Ken Keist when he was up for a nomination about the give -outs and handouts of the Internal Revenue Service.Play it.

Now, you've committed not to work on matters involving your clients or your former clients for only one year.That means on day 366 While you are still in your job, you can go right back to handing out loopholes that could boost the bottom lines of Microsoft or Pfizer or any other of your former and future clients.Mr. Keyes, the American people would like to know that when you draw a government paycheck, you'll be working just for them, not for your past and future clients.So will you commit to recusing yourself from matters that would affect the financial interests of your former clients for the entire time that you are in office?

So, Senator Warren, you and I had a very polite discussion about this when we met.And I advised you at that time, which is what I will tell you in public, I will comply with the terms of the ethics letter, which was written by career experts on ethics.And I would also reference you to the Bloomberg article today in which, Scott Amie, the General Counsel of the Project on Government Oversight, said the following.This is someone, me, who is taking government ethics very seriously.

Very seriously.And was making attempts.I appreciate that, but I'm running out of time here.Well, I would encourage you to read the article.And I will take this as a no.And the fact that you say it's okay with the Trump administration that on day 300,

you will be handing out tax loopholes to clients that you took in millions of dollars from, and that you've made no pledge not to go back and make them your clients again in the future, that may be okay with the Trump administration.I don't think it's okay with the American people.

So that's who we're talking about.Now, Todd Blanche came under heavy fire during the confirmation hearing, not just about the Jan 6th weaponization fund, but for the thing that was really what this was all about, to give Donald Trump billions, hundreds of billions of dollars of tax liability, audit liability exposure, immunity.And this is what apparently Maybe Ken Keis was okay with that, but he's not okay with then turning the weaponry of the Internal Revenue Service on to Donald Trump's political enemies.Play the clip of Todd Blanche taking on heavy water, heavy fire related to the settlement agreement giving that immunity.Play it.

It does not give any protection to the President, his family, or his organizations for any taxes they file if they filed it the day of that I signed that agreement or the day after, they have no protection.

No matter what their liability, no matter what their violation of tax law, you signed a document that forever discharged them from any legal responsibility.

As part of the settlement that we entered into, any past audits were - How often do you think that's been done in the history of the United States?involving the President of the United States, I'm not sure it's ever been done, but this type of settlement is done regularly.I think President Trump and his family are the first president that had their tax returns illegally taken, illegally made available to the public.So that is unique to President Trump, yes.But this type of settlement is not unique to the Department of Justice or the IRS.

Is a settlement agreement enforceable as a contract?

the parties?Well, yes, it's an enforceable document.So I suppose if President Trump's counsel sought to enforce it, that they potentially could.

Including the weaponization fund?

Well, they could try to enforce the contract.They can't force the Department of Justice to move forward with the weaponization fund.They could potentially say that, I suppose that we breached by not moving forward.They haven't done that, and I'm not aware that they're planning on doing that.The settlement fund's just not moving forward.There's no modification.

It's just, it never started.No money went from the treasury to any other account.There's no commissioners.It's not moving forward.

So why is this important?Well, back in 1998, the Internal Revenue Service, Congress restructured the Internal Revenue Service and passed the law called the IRS Restructuring Reform Act, which prevented the IRS from being politicized.I mean, particularly if you want to just know the language that's relevant here.It prohibits the executive branch influence.I mean literally its title is prohibition on executive branch influence over taxpayer audits and other investigations.It makes it unlawful for any person in the White House, president, vice president, or anybody in his direction, to request directly or indirectly any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service to conduct or terminate an audit or other investigation of any particular taxpayer with respect to a tax audit.

Now that one person is exempted from that, that's the General Counsel.And I'm sorry, that's the Attorney General of the United States.When the Democrats hopefully get the gavel, they're gonna have to fix that loophole because they never envisioned somebody who would be so corrupted and captured like Todd Blanche and any Attorney General for Donald Trump.Trump.At least there is some semblance of resistance within the Trump administration and within the White House and within the Treasury Department.And that's a good thing.

We need whistleblowers.He's not yet a whistleblower, but he's definitely somebody who, if I were a Democrat, I would be trying to subpoena to bring him in for testimony to an oversight committee hearing about what is really going on in the White House.I mean, this White House, as we know, is very leaky.We just had reporting that there's been a round -the -clock marathon investigation led by Kash Patel, of all people, and Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, to try to get to the bottom of who leaked to the New York Times and to MSNOW about the Air Force One problems of the Qatari Air Force One not having laser blinding anti -missile capability, and the fact that it's not secure as a flying situation room.Trump wants to get to the bottom of who leaked, who didn't leak.This entire White House is like, who leaked about the Situation Room meetings about Jeffrey Epstein to Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan?

Trump's scared of that one.That's why he doesn't go after that one, because he's afraid Maggie Haberman actually has recordings that she'll start releasing of the thousand people she interviewed, including people inside the White House.You see, he's not concerned about the Epstein files.Oh, but somebody craps all over Air Force One.Oh, here we go.So I want to keep a close eye on Kennedy.

Geis, which we'll do right here on Legal AF with this new reporting.Catch me here on Legal AF YouTube channel, catch me on Legal AF Substack, and of course on the Legal AF podcast.Until my next report, I'm Michael Popock.Popak here.When life changes in an instant because of an injury or the bad acts of another, you need fighters in your corner.The Popak firm is dedicated to helping the injured and their families get justice and the money they deserve.

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