Kenneth Kies, an assistant Treasury secretary and acting IRS chief counsel, is leaving after reported clashes over audit law limits and a contested settlement involving Donald Trump and his family.
Kenneth Kies is leaving his roles as an assistant Treasury secretary and acting chief counsel of the Internal Revenue Service after reports that he was forced out amid tensions with President Donald Trump’s White House. Kies had reportedly warned administration officials against directing the IRS on tax audits, an area restricted by Section 7217 of the Internal Revenue Code, which bars the president, vice president and certain executive branch employees from requesting that the agency open or end an audit of a particular taxpayer. His departure comes after heightened scrutiny of the administration’s relationship with the tax agency, including a Justice Department settlement announced in May in Trump’s lawsuit over leaked tax returns that would have shielded Trump and his family from IRS audits and created a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponisation fund.” U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams struck down that agreement last week, calling it government self-dealing and citing the same audit-interference prohibition. Reports also said Kies refused to work on the settlement and differed with the administration on other tax issues, while the Treasury’s former general counsel, Brian Morrissey, reportedly resigned in May over the deal.