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Daily Mail
44 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
The REAL reason Trump fired his rogue IRS chief as former rep's cringeworthy email blasts are revealed
The Trump White House abruptly pushed out IRS Commissioner Billy Long on Friday after a tense, behind-the-scenes clash over whether the agency should hand over taxpayer data to help immigration authorities locate undocumented immigrants. The dispute unfolded just hours before Long's removal, according to reporting by The Washington Post and CNN. Multiple sources told The Post that the Department of Homeland Security sent the IRS a list of more than 40,000 names on Thursday, urging the agency to confirm addresses using confidential tax records. The request, part of a broader push that could eventually target millions, came under a controversial April agreement between the Treasury Department and DHS - a deal IRS privacy lawyers had opposed. When the IRS verified fewer than three percent of the names, mostly those linked to individual taxpayer identification numbers, White House officials pressed for more data, including whether those taxpayers had claimed the earned income tax credit. Long refused telling top executives the agency would not provide information beyond the limits of its DHS agreement, citing taxpayer privacy protections, sources said. The following day, Long was out. The White House insists the move had long been planned. 'Any absurd assertion other than everyone being aligned on the mission is simply false and totally fake news.' with a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. The spokesperson defended the arrangement as a way to 'ensure that sensitive taxpayer information is protected, while allowing law enforcement to effectively pursue criminal violations.' In a statement that attempted to frame his ouster as a promotion, Long announced on Friday that Trump would nominate him as US ambassador to Iceland. 'It is [an] honor to serve my friend President Trump and I am excited to take on my new role as the ambassador to Iceland,' he wrote on X. 'I am thrilled to answer his call to service and deeply committed to advancing his bold agenda. Exciting times ahead!' Long even joked about the assignment quipping: 'I saw where Former Superman actor Dean Cain says he's joining ICE so I got all fired up and thought I'd do the same. So I called @realDonaldTrump last night and told him I wanted to join ICE and I guess he thought I said Iceland? Oh well.' But behind the levity lies an agency in turmoil. Long, a former Missouri congressman with little tax experience and a history of railing against the IRS, was the seventh person to lead the service since Trump took office in January. His two-month tenure followed a rapid-fire succession of commissioners driven out by resignations, retirements, and fights over policy. According to CNN, Long's management style was particularly unorthodox and would regularly blast out mass emails to the agency's entire workforce, sometimes encouraging staff to take off early on Fridays. Long tweeted how he had now taken on a news role as the US Ambassador to Iceland The day before he was forced out, Long sent an email with the subject line 'It's Almost FriYay,' sharing advice from a fraternity brother he claimed now runs the parent company of Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. In his email he spoke of 'building a new culture at the IRS' before telling employees to leave 70 minutes early. 'With this being Thursday before another FriYay, please enjoy a 70-minute early exit tomorrow,' Long wrote. 'That way you'll be well rested for my 70th birthday on Monday.' He signed off informally, 'Call Me Billy.' His replacement will be Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent who was appointed acting IRS chief as the administration searches for a permanent leader. A inspector general report from July found the IRS lost roughly 25 percent of its workforce under Trump amid budget cuts and buyouts. The leadership churn has been equally severe: Biden-appointed commissioner Danny Werfel resigned when Trump took office; acting chief Doug O'Donnell abruptly retired in February; Melanie Krause resigned in April after the controversial DHS tax-data deal; Gary Shapley's brief appointment was blocked by Bessent; and Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender served as acting commissioner before Long's Senate confirmation in June.
Times
2 hours ago
- Times
Vance tells Europe to step up in Ukraine, even though it lacks the strength
Europe needs to 'step up and take a bigger role' in funding Ukraine in its war against Russia, JD Vance, the US vice-president, said on Sunday. Speaking to Fox News, he claimed Americans were 'sick' of spending their tax dollars abroad and Washington was 'done funding' Kyiv. 'If you care so much about this conflict, you should be willing to play a more direct and a more substantial way in funding this war yourself,' he said. He spoke as European leaders again scrambled to build a united defence behind Ukraine, after President Trump suggested he may cut a deal with President Putin that could mean Ukraine has to concede territory. It is clear, however, that even if it remains unwavering in its diplomatic stance, Europe lacks the strength to back Kyiv in negotiating favourable terms in a future peace agreement or to enforce a ceasefire. The so-called 'coalition of the willing' — a multinational force led by the UK and France intended to support Ukraine and potentially monitor a ceasefire — looks highly unlikely to meet Sir Keir Starmer's original hopes of 64,000 troops on the ground. The Kremlin has also said it will not accept western troops in Ukraine, warning that their presence could trigger a new world war. Even if Putin were to agree, European defence ministers have said there is 'no chance' they could reach the 10,000 troops floated by the UK. Even 25,000 as a joint effort would 'be a push', The Times reported in April. 'Russia has 800,000 [troops],' Dovile Sakaliene, Lithuania's defence minister, told European counterparts. 'If we can't even raise 64,000 that doesn't look weak — it is weak.' It falls far short of the 200,000 troops that President Zelensky estimated in January were needed to credibly enforce peace across Ukraine's extensive front line and to prevent a new Russian attack after any ceasefire deal. Experts put the figure at closer to 600,000. The group consists largely of European and Commonwealth countries. So far, the UK and France are the only countries to have committed a specific number of troops. Finland is reportedly concerned that any deployment would 'dilute' its own border defences, while Poland, Spain and Italy have made clear they will not commit any soldiers. Estonia has said it may only be willing to send a company-sized combat unit of ground troops. Proposals have so far been hampered by shortages of manpower, political reluctance and logistical hurdles around the rules of engagement should Russia attack. Financially, Europe overtook the US as the biggest supplier of aid to Ukraine in June, with about €72 billion in military aid compared with the US's €65 billion, according to the Kiel Institute's Ukraine Support Tracker. The US has supplied the most sophisticated and lethal equipment, however, including advanced air-defence systems and precision munitions. Much of Europe's aid finances the purchase of US-made weapons, underscoring its dependence on the country. Zelensky said in January that about 40 per cent of Ukraine's weapons came from the US, about 33 per cent were produced domestically and less than 30 per cent came from Europe. Russia relies largely on its own resources, bolstered by partnerships with China and Iran. North Korea has also supplied between nine and 12 million artillery shells and rockets since 2023. Pyongyang allocates nearly 16 per cent of its government budget to defence, a proportion unmatched by any European state. Last year, EU members spent €326 billion on defence, about 1.9 per cent of GDP — a 30 per cent rise since 2021 — but the US spent nearly $1 trillion, or 3.4 per cent of GDP. JORGE SILVA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES To close the gap, the EU launched an €800 billion readiness plan aiming to modernise and integrate military capabilities. But progress is slow, hindered by fragmented industries, political divisions and lack of a shared strategy. The EU has imposed 14 rounds of economic sanctions on Russia since 2022, freezing more than €200 billion of Russian central bank assets and cutting energy imports. But Russia has adapted by deepening trade ties with China, India and other non-western partners, while Trump's promise to impose crippling secondary tariffs on buyers of Russian oil have largely failed to materialise. Europe could offer incentives, such as unfreezing Russian assets, as bargaining chips in any settlement. However, that relies on Putin seeing negotiation as preferable to continued war, something that is far from certain. Following an emergency summit on Saturday hosted by David Lammy, the foreign secretary, with Vance and senior European and Ukrainian officials, Kaja Kallas, the EU's policy chief, said she planned to convene an extraordinary meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday. 'The US has the power to force Russia to negotiate seriously,' she said, and any deal 'must have Ukraine and the EU included'. Kallas framed the talks as a matter for not just Ukraine's security, but the whole of Europe's. European diplomatic efforts are significant but, without military backing, risk being symbolic. The ability to uphold Ukraine's territorial integrity depends on sustained US commitment of weapons, troops and political will.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
JD Vance's attempt to blame Democrats
Four days after JD Vance reportedly asked top Trump administration officials to come up with a new communications strategy for dealing with the scandal around the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, he appears to have put his foot in it, sparking a new round of online outrage even as he tried to defuse the furor. In an interview with Fox News broadcast on Sunday, the vice-president tried to deflect criticism of the administration's refusal to release the Epstein files by blaming Democrats. He accused Joe Biden of doing 'absolutely nothing' about the scandal when he was in the White House. 'And now President Trump has demanded full transparency from this. And yet somehow the Democrats are attacking him and not the Biden administration, which did nothing for four years,' he said. Epstein's former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, was convicted of conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse multiple minor girls and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison during the Biden administration. If Vance's attempt to switch public blame onto Democrats was the big idea to emerge from his strategy meeting with attorney general Pam Bondi and FBI director Kash Patel, which according to CNN he convened at the White House last week, then their labours appear to have backfired. (Vance denied to Fox that they had discussed Epstein at all, though he did acknowledge the meeting took place.) Within minutes of the Fox News interview being broadcast, social media began to hum with renewed cries of 'release the files!' Clips of Vanc smearing Democrats quickly began to circulate on X. 'We know that Jeffrey Epstein had a lot of connections with leftwing politicians and leftwing billionaires … Democrat billionaires and Democrat political leaders went to Epstein island all the time. Who knows what they did,' he said. Vance also repeated Trump's previously debunked claim that Bill Clinton had visited Epstein's private island dozens of times. Clinton has acknowledged using Epstein's jet, but denied ever visiting his island. 'Fine. Release all the files,' was the riposte from Bill Kristol, the prominent conservative Never Trumper who urged the documents to be made public with 'no redactions of clients, enablers, and see-no-evil associates'. Jon Favreau, Barack Obama's former head speechwriter, replied: 'Release the names! Democrats, Republicans, billionaires, or not. What are you afraid of, JD Vance?' Favreau added that Trump's name 'is in the Epstein files'. That was an apparent reference to a report in the Wall Street Journal last month that a justice department review of the documents conducted under Bondi had found that the president's name did appear 'multiple times'. Other social media users used the Fox News interview as an excuse to re-run video of Trump in the hosting Epstein and Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago. Epstein died in August 2019, during Trump's first presidency, while the financier and socialite was awaiting trial in a Manhattan jail; the death was ruled a suicide. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion The White House has been caught in a bind over the Epstein affair which spawned conspiracy theories among many of Trump's supporters, which now senior figures in the administration had actively encouraged during the 2024 campaign. In July the justice department announced that there was no Epstein client list and that no more files would be made public, a decision that clashed with earlier statements from top Trump officials, including Bondi's statement in February that a client list was 'sitting on my desk right now to review'. The decision triggered an immediate and ongoing uproar that crossed the partisan political divide. Among the most viral clips in the aftermath of that reversal was video of Vance himself telling the podcaster Theo Von, two weeks before the election: 'Seriously, we need to release the Epstein list, that is an important thing.' In his Fox News interview Vance also warned that 'you're going to see a lot of people get indicted' after Trump accused Obama of 'treason' and called for his predecessor to be prosecuted. The director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, has passed documents to the justice department that she claims show that the Obama administration maliciously tried to hurt Trump by linking Russian interference in the 2016 election to him. Obama has dismissed Trump's call for his prosecution as weak and ridiculous.
