{"id":2403462,"date":"2025-02-17T16:10:02","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T21:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pete-hegseth-accuses-biden-irs-of-rushing-through-last-minute-audit-of-him-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-02-17T16:10:35","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T21:10:35","slug":"pete-hegseth-accuses-biden-irs-of-rushing-through-last-minute-audit-of-him-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pete-hegseth-accuses-biden-irs-of-rushing-through-last-minute-audit-of-him-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Pete Hegseth accuses Biden IRS of rushing through last minute audit of him &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fpete-hegseth-accuses-biden-irs-of-rushing-through-last-minute-audit-of-him-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2403462&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>pete Hegseth, the\u2062 Secretary of Defense, has accused\u200d the Biden administration&#8217;s\u2062 IRS of hastily conducting an audit of his and his wife&#8217;s finances following his nomination\u200c for the position. He made the claim via a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/u-s-government-funded-ai-surveillance-program-targeting-emotions-expressed-in-social-media-during-covid\/\" title=\"US Govt Funds AI-Surveillance Program for Covid-Era Social Media Emotions.\">social\u200b media post<\/a>, which included a photo suggesting that the IRS \u2063informed him he\u200b and his\u2062 wife owed over $33,500 in taxes. Hegseth labeled the \u200baudit \u2062as a \u200c&#8221;total sham,&#8221; criticizing the Biden administration for its \u200dactions and \u2064asserting\u200b that\u2063 they contradict\u200c their\u200b professed values of &#8220;norms and decency.&#8221; \u200cThis \u2063incident occurs in\u2063 the context of \u2062<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/senate-inches-closer-to-shutdown-solution\/\" title=\"Senate Nears Shutdown Solution\">ongoing political tensions<\/a> \u200bregarding \u200cIRS funding\u200c and its\u200d targeting of taxpayers, particularly \u200bduring the previous administration when the\u200c IRS faced \u200callegations\u2064 of unfair scrutiny of \u2063conservative groups.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Pete Hegseth accuses Biden IRS of rushing through last minute audit of him<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1994522\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Secretary of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/defense\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Defense<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/pete-hegseth\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pete Hegseth<\/a> claimed that the Biden administration <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/irs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">IRS<\/a> &ldquo;rushed&rdquo; an audit of his and his wife&rsquo;s finances after he was nominated for the role.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Hegseth, 44, made the accusation on X on Monday afternoon. Few details were immediately available, but he posted a photo of what appeared to show the IRS telling him that he and his wife, Jennifer, owed the IRS a balance of more than $33,500.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Of course the outgoing Biden IRS rushed an &lsquo;audit&rsquo; of the incoming SecDef. Total sham,&rdquo; Hegseth said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">social media post accompanying<\/a> the photo. &ldquo;The party of &lsquo;norms&rsquo; and &lsquo;decency&rsquo; strikes again. We will never back down.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Of course the outgoing Biden IRS rushed an &ldquo;audit&rdquo; of the incoming SecDef. Total sham.<\/p>\n<p>The party of &ldquo;norms&rdquo; and &ldquo;decency&rdquo; strikes again. We will never back down. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/coW1UpFPrD\">pic.twitter.com\/coW1UpFPrD<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PeteHegseth\/status\/1891562620466978839?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 17, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> reached out to the IRS and Pentagon for comment.<\/p>\n<p>During the Obama administration, the IRS generated a wave of controversy after it was found to be improperly singling out conservative groups, with the agency <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2017\/10\/27\/560308997\/irs-apologizes-for-aggressive-scrutiny-of-conservative-groups\">apologizing<\/a> for the aggressive scrutiny of the groups in 2017. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>During the Biden administration, Republicans have pushed back on efforts to give the IRS more money for audits out of fear that agents would not just target the wealthy but also go after middle class taxpayers.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Democrats gave the IRS tens of millions of dollars more in funding as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, arguing that the funding would be used to close the tax gap by going after wealthy tax cheats.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans have sought to claw back that funding.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1994522\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1994522\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pete Hegseth claims the Biden IRS hurried an audit of his finances after his nomination<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3360,"featured_media":2403463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/hegseth-irs-audit.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[50523,50522,44930,32076],"class_list":["post-2403462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-audit-2","tag-biden-irs","tag-pete-hegseth","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/hegseth-irs-audit.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3360"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2403462"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2403466,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403462\/revisions\/2403466"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2403463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2403462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2403462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2403462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}