Clip Of Trump Claiming He'd Never Let IRS Be Used For Political Attacks Resurfaces—And It's Hypocrisy At Its Finest

After his administration asked the IRS to revoke Harvard University’s tax exemption for defying President Donald Trump's demands that the university eliminate DEI programs and limit international students, old clips resurfaced of Trump, along with Vice President J.D. Vance and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, claiming they'd never allow that to happen.

Federal law prohibits the president from directly or indirectly requesting that the IRS investigate or audit specific individuals or entities.

While the IRS can revoke tax-exempt status from organizations that engage in excessive political or commercial activity, such decisions are subject to appeal in court—and tax experts believe efforts to strip Harvard of its exemption would likely fail under legal scrutiny.

Still, Republicans are exploring alternative approaches. A Semafor report published Wednesday revealed that GOP lawmakers are considering ways to tax the profits generated from university endowments, even as the IRS weighs whether to revoke tax-exempt status for Harvard and other institutions.

The Department of Justice formally requested the IRS to review Harvard’s status last week.

Amid all this, thanks to efforts of Sarah Longwell, the founder and publisher of The Bulwark, a clip of Trump claiming that Democrats "would use every instrument of government power including the IRS to shut you [Americans] down" has resurfaced.

Notably, at one point Trump said:

“I will never allow the IRS to be used as a political weapon as it has been and it is currently being used but has been used so viciously, so violently."

You can see the video below.

But Longwell didn't stop there, also sharing a clip of Vance making a similar claim during an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham:

"This is about whether we have functional constitutional government in this country. If the IRS can go after you because of what you think or what you believe or what you do, we'd no longer live in a free country.“

You can see the video below.

Longwell also resurfaced a clip of remarks once made by Cruz, who had previously pledged to “speak out” if a Republican attorney general or IRS commissioner began targeting institutions affiliated with the left or the Democratic Party:

"I can also assure you that were this a Republican president, a Republican Attorney General, and a Republican IRS that were targeting Democrats, I at least would speak out just as vigorously against it because if we are going to respect rule of law, the apparatus of the federal government cannot and should not be used as a partisan tool to bludgeon your enemies."

You can see the video below.

All three were swiftly called out for hypocrisy.

Trump has made no secret of his efforts to replace IRS leadership and steer the agency toward carrying out his directives, installing allies to temporarily serve as both commissioner and chief counsel.

Last week, Trump replaced the acting commissioner of the IRS, following a brief tenure that sparked a power struggle between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and billionaire Elon Musk, who leads the advisory Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Michael Faulkender, Bessent’s deputy, has been named the new acting commissioner, replacing Gary Shapley, the Treasury Department confirmed Friday. Bessent reportedly told Trump that Musk had bypassed him to have Shapley installed, despite the IRS falling under Bessent’s authority.

Amid these shakeups, Harvard President Alan Garber said Trump's demands violate First Amendment protections and “threaten our values” as a private institution. “No government,” he said, should be telling universities “what…to teach, whom…to admit and hire,” or what to research.