After the New York Times reported that the IRS was told to target former top FBI officials James B. Comey and Andrew G. McCabe, Ways and Means Republican Leader Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) issued the following statement:

“Former IRS Commissioner Rettig himself has disputed these claims, noting that he had no communication with President Trump and the research audits are statistically generated. I support allowing the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration to continue its investigation, consistent with the Ways and Means Committee precedent that led to confirming allegations of abuse by President Obama’s disgraced former IRS director Lois Lerner.

“The IRS should never be used as a weapon against political opponents as it was in the repeated targeting of conservative groups, the dangerous targeting of President Trump’s tax returns by this Democrat Congress, and the dangerous leaking of private tax returns under the Obama and Biden Administrations.

“Presidents shouldn’t do it, nor should the Supreme Court grant majority parties in Congress nearly unlimited power to target and make public the tax returns of political enemies — which Democrats are seeking under the flimsy guise of ‘audit procedures.'”