Trump asked if he would let IRS FBI officials investigate, former top aide says

John F. Kelly, former President Donald J. Trump’s second White House Chief of Staff, said in an affidavit that Trump had discussed having the Internal Revenue Service and other federal agencies investigate two FBI officials involved were investigating links to his campaign with Russia.

Mr Kelly said his recollection of Mr Trump’s comments to him was based on notes he took in 2018 at the time. Mr. Kelly gave copies of his notes to the attorneys for one of the FBI officials, who took the affidavit. public in a court file.

“President Trump questioned whether Mr. Strzok and/or Ms. Page should be investigated by the IRS or other federal agencies,” Kelly said in the statement. “I don’t know if President Trump has ordered such an investigation. However, it seemed he wanted Mr. Strzok and Mrs. Page to investigate.”

Mr Kelly’s claims were revealed on Thursday in a statement filed in connection with lawsuits filed by Peter Strzok, who was the lead agent in the FBI’s Russia investigation, and Lisa Page, a former attorney with the agency, against the Justice Department for violating their privacy rights when the Trump administration posted public text messages between them.

Mr. Kelly’s revelations, made under penalty of perjury, demonstrate Mr. Trump’s interest in leveraging the federal government’s law enforcement and investigative powers to target his perceived enemies. In the wake of Richard M. Nixon’s presidency, Congress made it illegal for a president to “directly or indirectly” order an IRS investigation or audit.

The New York Times reported last July that two of Trump’s greatest perceived enemies — James B. Comey, whom he fired as FBI director, and Mr. Comey’s deputy, Andrew G. McCabe – were the subject of the same kind of highly unusual and invasive IRS audit.

It is not known whether the IRS investigated Mr. Strzok or Ms. Page. But Mr Strzok became a subject in Special Counsel John Durham’s investigation into how the FBI investigated Mr Trump’s campaign. Neither Mr. Strzok nor Ms. Page were charged in connection with that investigation, which former law enforcement officials and Democrats have criticized as an attempt to carry out Mr. Trump’s vendetta against the agency. Mr. Strzok is also suing the department for wrongful termination.

Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page exchanged text messages critical of Mr. Trump, which were later made public by Rod J. Rosenstein, then Deputy Attorney General under Mr. Trump, when he faced heavy criticism from Republicans on Capitol Hill trying to find ways to undermine him.

Mr Kelly’s affidavits are similar to those he made to The New York Times in November, saying Mr Trump told him he wanted some of his alleged political enemies investigated by the IRS including Mr. Comey, Mr. McCabe, Mr. Strzok and Mrs. Page.

Mr Kelly told The Times last year that Mr Trump’s demands were part of a wider pattern of attempts to use the Justice Department and his authority as president against people who had criticized him, including attempts to get security clearances of former top executives. intelligence officials.

In the affidavit, Mr. Kelly said Mr. Trump had talked about revoking Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page’s security clearances, although Mr. Kelly took no action on the idea. Mr Kelly said his notes showed Mr Trump discussing the two’s investigations on February 21, 2018.

“I have not noted all the instances where then-President Trump made a comment about Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page,” Mr. Kelly said. “President Trump generally disapproved of taking notes during meetings. He expressed concern that the notes could later be used against him.”

Mr Kelly said he never took steps to comply with Mr Trump’s desire to have his enemies investigated.

Mr Trump has said he knew nothing about the audits of Mr Comey and Mr McCabe and their spouses. The IRS’s inspector general found last year that Mr. Comey and Mr. McCabe had been randomly selected for the audits, though the inspector general’s report acknowledged some deviations from the IRS’s strict rules on random selection when the bureau made a final selection of the declarations that would be made. be checked.

Mr Kelly told The Times last year that Mr Trump had sometimes talked about using the IRS and Justice Department to address others besides Mr Comey, Mr McCabe, Mr Strzok and Ms Page.

They included, said Mr. Kelly, former CIA director John O. Brennan; Hillary Clinton; and Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post, whose reporting often angered Mr. Trump.