Overview
- An IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson confirmed its agents will work alongside the FBI at the operations hub, adding fresh detail to reports first published Wednesday.
- The effort focuses on tracing nonprofit funding streams and potential tax offenses, with IRS-CI personnel detailed for one-year assignments.
- The initiative stems from Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Dec. 4 directive prioritizing investigations of antifa and other groups labeled extremist, including possible IRS fraud.
- The Justice Department says it is targeting criminal conduct that meets Congress’s definition of domestic terrorism, though prosecutors rely on other statutes because no standalone charge exists.
- Civil-liberties advocates and a former DOJ official question the legal basis for compiling lists and retaining data on groups, and no specific organizations or donors have been publicly identified.