Trump wanted the IRS to investigate his political foes, including James B. Comey and Andrew G. McCabe, who were both subject to a rare audit by the tax agency, The New York Times reported

• Former White House aide John F. Kelly told NYT Trump wanted the IRS to probe his political foes.
• Former FBI director James B. Comey and his deputy, Andrew G. MacCabe, were selected for an audit.

Donald Trump's second White House chief of staff, John F. Kelly, told The New York Times that the former president prodded him about having the Internal Revenue Service investigate his political foes.

Some of the people Trump hoped the agency would target, according to Kelly, included former FBI director James B. Comey and his deputy Andrew G. McCabe — two nemeses of Trump during his presidency.

Kelly told The Times that Trump said "we ought to investigate" and "get the IRS" on Comey and McCabe.

A spokesperson from the IRS told Insider that the agency is "barred by law" from commenting on any information regarding US taxpayers. A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Liz Harrington, Trump's spokeswoman, denied to The Times that Trump ever made such a request.

"It's total fiction created by a psycho, John Kelly, who never said this before, and made it up just because he's become so irrelevant," Harrington said.

The revelation from Kelly comes after The Times previously reported that Comey and McCabe were selected for a highly rare audit by the IRS.

In 2017, Comey was among the 5,000 individuals audited by the agency out of 153 million taxpayers that year, The Times reported. Comey was abruptly fired as FBI director in May 2017 over the bureau's probe into Trump's ties to Russia.

Two years later, McCabe, the acting FBI director after Comey's ousting, received the same audit. That year, 8,000 people were chosen for an audit out of 154 million taxpayers.

The IRS commissioner, Charles P. Retting, who was appointed by Trump in 2018, declined to respond to The Times' report that was published in July.

In a statement to the newspaper at that time, the IRS said Retting did not choose the individuals selected for the audit.

"Commissioner Rettig is not involved in individual audits or taxpayer cases; those are handled by career civil servants," the IRS told the Times. "As I.R.S. commissioner, he has never been in contact with the White House — in either administration — on I.R.S. enforcement or individual taxpayer matters. He has been committed to running the I.R.S. in an impartial, unbiased manner from top to bottom."