“The IRS has referred the matter to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration for review. IRS Commissioner (Charles) Rettig personally reached out to TIGTA after receiving a press inquiry,” the IRS said in a statement.
McCabe told CNN on Thursday that he thinks “referring it to the IG is the right step, but let’s see if the IG moves on it and then makes their findings public.”
CNN has reached out to Comey for comment on the referral.
Individuals are supposed to be selected by random for the audits. The Times noted that the odds of any one person being selected for an audit by National Research Program in 2017 are about one in 30,600, raising questions about how two of Trump’s most visible critics were both selected.
The IRS on Thursday also reiterated its previous statement denying any “politically motivated audits” in a statement to CNN.
“Federal Privacy laws preclude us from discussing specific taxpayer situations. Audits are handled by career civil servants, and the IRS has strong safeguards in place to protect the exam process — and against politically motivated audits,” the agency said.
“It’s ludicrous and untrue to suggest that senior IRS officials somehow targeted specific individuals for National Research Program audits,” it added.
Rettig, a Trump appointee, has led the IRS since 2018. The agency said in a statement to the Times he has no role in selecting candidates for audits, and the newspaper noted that how taxpayers are selected for the intensive audits is not known outside the IRS.
Reaction from Democrats has been swift, with one calling for Rettig’s ouster.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, said in a statement that “Donald Trump has no respect for the rule of law, so if he tried to subject his political enemies to additional IRS scrutiny that would surprise no one.”
“We need to understand what happened here because it raises serious concerns,” he said.
Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., the Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight, has called for Rettig to be fired.
“The IRS under Donald Trump’s handpicked commissioner Charles Rettig has been one catastrophe after another. The auditing of two law enforcement leaders at Trump’s behest is a titanic scandal,” Pascrell said in a statement.
“An investigation by TIGTA is warranted but should not delay what we is plain to see. Charles Rettig has wrecked public trust in the IRS and I reiterate my calls for President Biden to fire Mr. Rettig immediately,” he said.
CNN has reached out to representatives for Trump for comment. The former President, through a spokesman, said in a statement to the Times: “I have no knowledge of this.”
This story has been updated with additional details Thursday.
CNN’s Devan Cole and Paul LeBlanc contributed to this report.