Wyden Blasts Trump Weaponization of IRS Against Progressive Speech

Wyden Blasts Trump Weaponization of IRS Against Progressive Speech

Washington, D.C. - Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today issued the following statement on a new report that the Trump administration is weaponizing the IRS with politically-motivated targeting of progressive individuals and organizations:

"Donald Trump believes he's a king, and he's determined to wield every agency under his control as a weapon to crush political opposition and silence free speech.

"The Trump administration will try to legitimize this abuse with legal opinions and procedural lingo, but the implicit threat is that if you give to a progressive cause, they'll deem you a terrorist and ruin your life.

"Senate Republicans have spent years faking outrage over what they called the weaponization of government. They've spent more than a decade moaning about the IRS scrutinizing conservative tax-exempt groups -- scrutiny the IRS in fact applied to organizations across the political spectrum. The weaponization they talk about is happening right now in front of their eyes, and unless Republicans stand up and speak out, they'll be complicit in Trump's assault on our Constitutional right to free speech."

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