Special counsel Robert Mueller has enlisted the help of agents from the IRS' Criminal Investigations unit, according to sources familiar with his investigation into alleged Russian election interference. The unit's 2,500 agents focus exclusively on financial crime. "And it goes without saying," this report says, "that the IRS has access to Trump's tax returns -- documents that the president has long resisted releasing to the public."
From the Daily Beast:
But the team-up between the IRS and Mueller probe could come with political complications. Mueller has already taken some criticism for the number of Democratic donors on his team. Those critiques intensified yesterday, when word leaked that Mueller was coordinating some of his activities with New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a long-time Trump adversary.
The IRS, for its part, became a target of conservative ire during the Obama administration for its investigations into Tea Party groups—probes that Republicans called political witch hunts. The complaints about politicized taxmen could begin again, with the IRS joining forces with Mueller.
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