The Wall Street Journal exclusively reports that the Trump administration is planning “sweeping changes” within the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to allow the agency to launch criminal investigations into left-leaning organizations and specific donors.
The undertaking aims to install allies of President Trump at the IRS criminal-investigative division, or IRS-CI, to exert firmer control over the unit and weaken the involvement of IRS lawyers in criminal investigations, officials said. The proposed changes could open the door to politically motivated probes and are being driven by Gary Shapley, an adviser to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
The Wall Street Journal
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is serving as acting IRS commissioner and overseeing the administration’s reforms to the IRS. The IRS Criminal-Investigative Division includes more than 2,000 agents working alongside other agencies to combat serious financial crimes.
The plan requires replacing IRS-CI Chief Guy Ficco with Gary Shapley, a former IRS-CI agent who spearheaded an investigation of Hunter Biden. Shapley is already working on a list of donors and groups to target, including GOP boogeyman George Soros.
Based on other efforts inside the Trump administration, the first goal of the internal takeover may be to revoke tax-exempt status from non-profits focused on progressive concerns such as climate change, corruption, and LGBTQ+ issues.
It is a felony crime for the President, the Vice President, White House employees, and any members of the president’s Cabinet besides the Attorney General to in any way, directly or indirectly, influence IRS investigations against any taxpayer.
It is also a federal crime for an IRS employee to not report attempts by the Executive Branch to influence investigations.
Since the signing of National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7), the Trump administration has worked tirelessly to present an image of all Democrats and left-wing groups, including colleges, as terrorists or terrorism supporters in an effort to use the courts and government agencies against their political targets.
In an interview the next day (October 16, 2025), White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said “The Democrat Party’s main constituency is made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens, and violent criminals.”
