The acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was replaced days after he was appointed amid reports of a clash between Elon Musk and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
President Donald Trump was reported to have replaced Gary Shapley, and Michael Faulkender, Bessent’s deputy, will be the new acting commissioner of the IRS, five people who have “knowledge of the change,” told the New York Times.
Per the outlet, Bessent reportedly “complained to Mr. Trump this week that Mr. Musk had done an end run around him to get Mr. Shapley was installed as the interim head” of the IRS:
Mr. Bessent had complained to Mr. Trump this week that Mr. Musk had done an end run around him to get Mr. Shapley installed as the interim head of the I.R.S., even though the tax collection agency reports to Mr. Bessent, the people familiar with the situation said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
Breitbart News’s Sean Moran reported in March that Bessent had revealed that IRS whistleblowers who had spoken out regarding the Hunter Biden case had been hired to serve as “senior advisors for the Treasury Department.” The two whistleblowers who were hired to be senior advisers for the Treasury Department were revealed to be Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler.
In a post on X, Bessent expressed that he was “fully confident” that Faulkender “is the right man for the moment.” Bessent added that Shapley “remains among” Bessent’s “most important senior advisors” at the Treasury Department.
“Trust must be brought back to the IRS, and I am fully confident that @TreasuryDepSec Michael Faulkender is the right man for the moment,” Bessent said in a statement. “Gary Shapley’s passion and thoughtfulness for approaching ways by which to create durable and lasting reforms at the IRS is essential to our work, and he remains among my most important senior advisors at the @USTreasury as we work together to rethink and reform the IRS.”
“After Gary and Joseph Ziegler complete their ongoing year-long investigation, I will ensure they are both in senior government roles that will enable the results of their investigation to translate into meaningful policy changes,” Bessent added.
Shapley was picked to serve as the acting commissioner of the IRS after Melanie Krause, the former acting commissioner, resigned because the Treasury Department “agreed” to use IRS data “to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement deport undocumented immigrants,” according to the outlet.
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