Despite ‘No Evidence,’ MSNBC Pushes Trump Ordered Audits While Out of Office

On Wednesday, The New York TimesWashington correspondent Michael Schmidt published an insufficient article that suggested former President Trump had directed the IRS to audit former FBI Director James Comey as well as Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. Despite the blatant inconstancies and admitting there’s “no evidence,” the liberal media’s ‘it rings true’ barometer carried the day on Thursday’s Andrea Mitchell ReportsMSNBC.

“So, what are the chances of two Trump foes getting audited by the IRS? It’s one in 82 million, according to a. New York Times calculation,”Mitchell exaggerated her return from commercial breaks as Mitchell proclaimed.

It was brought up by her since then. In his article, Schmidt hid the fact that McCabe’s audit didn’t begin until “October 2021, nine months after Mr. Trump left office.” It was a key fact he didn’t get around to mentioning until paragraph 44 (of 54). Comey’s happened in 2019.

Trump’s appointed commissioner Charles Rettig was the one who may have been involved in this connection. He still heads the agency, and has repeatedly denied any involvement. And something Schmidt failed to address in his article: if Trump was brazen enough to order an IRS audit after he left office, then why hasn’t he ordered them to drop the audit he’s allegedly been facing for years?

But those inconstancies didn’t stop Mitchell as she peddled the accusations because “Both were fired, of course, by Trump during the Russia investigation into the 2016 campaign.”

Mitchell, a former top FBI officer and U.S. lawyer Chuck Rosenberg, harpened on the numbers once more. “They say it’s very rare. According to the FBI, it is very unlikely that these men would be audited together, even though they have the exact same job. The New York Times.”

And although he did say that the accusations should be turned over to “the Treasury inspector general and let that person figure it out,” Rosenberg did note that statistically unlikely things do happen and made an important distinction:

Statistics tell us that it is very, extremely unusual. It’s not illegal, according to the statistics. Right? Michael Steele may win the lottery. It’s extremely unlikely that he’ll do that. He might also be able to win the lottery two times. This is a very small chance. It has been won twice. This is statistically feasible. The only thing I can think of right now is that it’s highly unlikely, mathematically as well, statistically.

Mitchell moved on. New York TimesChief White House correspondent Peter Baker defends their reporting. But even he admits it. “Chuck is right there’s no evidence in the story that Mike Schmidt was able to publish that suggests definitively this was done as an act of retaliation…”

Baker made an attempt to prove that “the circumstantial evidence of the numbers” was “very daunting,”This is hard to dispute. He went on to make the hollow ‘rings true’ argument by suggesting Trump’s desire to strip security clearances from self-enriching former intelligence bosses backs up the possibility:

He tried, in fact, I think, to strip security clearances from Jim Comey and Jim Clapper and other former intelligence director – I think John Brennan, the former CIA director; not because they had done anything thing wrong but because they criticized him. And he didn’t like them because there was all of that. He wanted to make them lose their security clearance.

“So, in other words, he showed again and again a willingness to do things other presidents didn’t do or wouldn’t have done or at least would have been embarrassed to have been caught doing,” he insisted.

This pushing of a accusations with no evidence was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Ensure and The Farmer’s Dog. You can find their contact information here.

You can find the transcript below. To read it, please click on “expand”.

MSNBC’s Mitchell Report
July 7, 2022
Eastern, 12:36:14

ANDREA MITCHELL According to A.M., that’s one in every 82 million. New York Times calculation. This is exactly what happened with James Comey, former FBI director, and Andrew McCabe (his deputy), who succeeded him after Comey was fired. McCabe was then fired by Donald Trump. For a short time, he served as the acting FBI Director. Trump fired both of them during his Russia investigation into Trump’s 2016 campaign.

The New York TimesAccording to reports, the audits were conducted under Charles Reddig (Trump-appointed IRS Commissioner), who remains on the job. IRS denies any wrongdoing. Reddig claimed that he does not have any involvement in the individual audits. That’s done only by career bureaucrats.

Comey and his wife’s audit start in November of 2019, costing them nearly $5,000 in accountant fees. Comey at one point had to send the IRS the family’s Christmas card to prove how many children he had as dependence. McCabe’s audit began in October of 2021, months after Trump left office. McCabe responded to CNN’s reporting earlier today.

[Cuts to video]

ANDREW McCCABE: It was a coincident that is statistically almost impossible. [Transition]Only after I learned about Jim Comey’s audit, did I realize that it couldn’t be random.

[Cuts back to live]

MITCHELL New York TimesPeter Baker is the White House chief correspondent, while Michael Steele was an RNC Chairman.

Chuck, I don’t know if you’ve ever had that kind of intensive audit. This is very uncommon, according to them. According to the FBI, it is very unlikely that these men would be audited together, even though they share the same job. The New York Times. Let us know what you think.

CHUCK ROSENBERG (OH NO): I have not had the privilege of doing an IRS audit. Andrea, it’s something you might enjoy.

Statistics tell us that it is very, extremely unusual. However, it is not shown in the statistics as being improper. Right? Michael Steele may win the lottery. It’s extremely unlikely that he’ll do that. He might also be able to win the lottery two times. This is a very small chance. It has been won twice. This is statistically feasible.

The only thing I know is that it’s extremely unusual statistically as well mathematically. It is time to turn the matter over to Treasury Inspector General so that they can figure it all out. Right now, we don’t have any idea. This would only be speculation. The math is however daunting.

MITCHELL: Peter Baker. New York TimesYour colleague Michael Schmidt’s report is alarming. And it’s certainly resonant of things many people experienced during the Nixon years, when there was definitely an enemies list and people were audited on orders of the White House.

PETER BAKER : I believe Chuck is correct. There’s not any evidence Mike Schmidt could publish to prove that this was an act of retaliation.

But, it is important to remember that President Trump made clear throughout his presidency, the fact that he wants to use government’s apparatus to punish his enemies. Repetition was made repeatedly to the Justice Department for prosecutions of those he disagreed with, such as Andrew McCabe or James Comey. He repeatedly sought to make use of the power that his presidency gave him to act against people he disagreed with politically.

He tried, in fact, I think, to strip security clearances from Jim Comey and Jim Clapper and other former intelligence director – I think John Brennan, the former CIA director; not because they had done anything thing wrong but because they criticized him. And he didn’t like them because there was all of that. He wanted to make them lose their security clearance.

He showed, therefore, that he was willing to try things others presidents would not do.

(…)