american tax collector

Chapter 399 The scapegoat

Amid the heated discussion across the country, David, Obadiah and Vertonghen, who received the notice, also arrived at the door of the White House.

Under the guidance of a special person, the three of them soon arrived at the president's office, where they saw Paden and Wilder.

"Mr. President, you're looking for us?"

Paiden ignored Obadiah's words and looked at David unkindly. He said, "Inspector General David, whether it is your previous series of drastic actions or the tax avoidance bill you introduced, we in the White House have not interfered with you too much, and we even support you a lot, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"So, why do you treat me like this?"

"Sir, I wonder what you mean by ..."

If it were in the past, David would have been somewhat nervous facing such questions from the biggest boss in America.

But he has been through a lot during this period of time.

Moreover, he currently holds a decision-making position in the IRS, and his reputation in the country is unmatched, so he is not too afraid to face the number one man in America at this time.

"I'm asking you, have you reached an agreement with Kachila to use her to replace me?"

Paiden also pointed it out without any concealment.

"Sir, I did reach some agreements with Vice President Kachila, but it's not exactly what you think. After all, without Vice President Kachila's support, the bill cannot be passed. I hope you can understand..."

"Haha, you want her to take my place and you expect me to understand, that's pretty funny!"

"Sir, what do you want?"

"David, do you think that now that you are in a decision-making position at the IRS, no one can sanction you?"

"Sir, I have never thought about it this way. The starting point of everything I do is for the country and the people!"

"Do you know that I only need one executive order to immediately remove the three of you from your positions?"

Upon hearing this, Obadiah and Vertonghen, who had been silent, changed their expressions, because they knew that Paden did have the power and could do it.

However, David, the person involved, did not show any expression, and replied calmly: "This is your power, but I need to remind you that even if you dismiss us, you may not be able to replace us with the person you want!"

After these words were spoken, Obadiah and Vertonghen were stunned, while Paden and Wilder's expressions darkened.

In the IRS, the positions of director and chief counsel must be nominated by the president and approved by the Senate before taking office.

Now that David has reached an agreement with Kachila, he has already taken control of the Senate.

That is to say, even if he sent Deng to remove Obadiah and Vertonghen from their posts, if he wanted to replace them with others, as long as David instructed the Senate to block him, he would not be able to replace them with the people he wanted.

But this is not the most serious thing. The most serious thing is that according to the US Constitution, whether the president wants to nominate his cabinet members or other important positions, he must be reviewed and voted on by the Senate.

As long as he can't deal with the Senate, he will always be stuck!
Originally, Paiden called David over with the intention of giving him a good beating so that he would behave more restrained in the future, but he didn't expect that he would be beaten back. This made him feel extremely depressed.

"Okay, sir, I can tell you very frankly that although I have reached some agreements with Kachila, they are not absolute. Now the key question is, what do you think of the cross-regional tax avoidance bill?"

David didn't want to waste any more breath. The most urgent thing was to find out what Paden's true attitude towards the bill was so that he could take the next step.

"As you can see, I have sent the bill back to the Senate. So, are you planning to take action against me?"

"I believe that you just haven't thought it through yet, sir. If you have thought it through, you can always ask the Senate to send the bill to you and sign it into law!"

"hehe."

Paiden sneered and did not comment.

At this moment, the landline phone on the desk rang suddenly. Paden picked it up and said he would be there right away. Then he pushed the door open and walked out without saying hello, leaving only Obadiah and the other two who were confused, and White House Chief of Staff Wilder in the office.

The three of them looked at each other, then Obadiah turned to Wilder and asked, "Chief of Staff Wilder, can you tell us if we still have anything to discuss about this bill?"

"Logically speaking, if a bill passes both the Senate and the House, it proves that the bill is valuable, and we at the White House should not block it. But the problem now is that you all know that this bill is fleecing the entire American capitalists, so we are also facing a lot of pressure now..."

Wilder looked embarrassed, and his words showed neither refusal nor agreement.

"What should we do?"

Obadiah asked again.

"Oh, forget it!"

Wilder showed a struggle on his face. He sighed and said, "Let me tell you the truth. Mr. President is actually more inclined to sign. But as I said before, our White House is already under great pressure. Once we sign, we will probably be sanctioned by the three major groups and all capitalists. We cannot afford the consequences, unless..."

At the end of his speech, Wilder turned his gaze to David.

"Unless what?"

David asked immediately.

"Unless we were 'forced' to sign!"

"Being forced into a desperate situation!?"

David and the other two were stunned at first, but soon understood what the other party meant.

"Once this bill is enacted, you in the White House will be a big beneficiary, but you don't want to put in any effort or bear any pressure, haha."

Obadiah couldn't stand the other party's practice of making them take the blame, so he made a sarcastic remark.

"We only have this one condition. If you agree, we will sign it. What do you think?"

"you……"

"Okay, Chief, I think we can agree to this condition!"

Before Obadiah could say anything more, David interrupted.

Although he was indeed prepared for impeachment if the White House did not sign, the reaction caused by impeaching a president of a country was still too great.

And this is not a process that can be completed in a short period of time.

So he doesn't want to really impeach unless it's absolutely necessary.

And now, although Paden made him take the blame, it was actually nothing big. Anyway, in the eyes of many people, he was already "full of evil".

He doesn't care about adding another notoriety that threatens the White House.

As for not initiating impeachment proceedings, will it cause dissatisfaction from Kachila?

The answer is yes.

After all, the reason why Kaqila helped him was simply because she saw the opportunity to get promoted immediately.

But then again, his previous agreement with Kachila was that he would initiate impeachment proceedings only if the White House refused to sign.

But now, as long as he bears this bad reputation, the White House will agree to sign, which is not a violation of the agreement with Kaqila. At most, in the 28th year, he can give Kaqila a little more help, which can be regarded as compensation for her.

"Very good, Inspector General David is still very righteous!"

Wilder smiled with satisfaction.

"Chief of Staff Wilder, since you have this plan, what do we need to do next?"

"It's very simple, if you do this..."

"..."

……

The next day came to the IRS, the Office of the Inspector General.

Keppel walked in and said, "Inspector General, Mr. Pinkman is here!"

"Invite him in!"

"Yes!"

A few minutes later, a middle-aged man with a big belly and glasses walked in. He was the editor-in-chief of the Washington Post, a famous Washington group.

"Hello Mr. Pinkman!"

"Hello, Inspector General David!"

"Please sit down!"

After the two shook hands, David gestured for the other party to sit down.

But at this time, Pinkman was full of doubts.

Early this morning, he received a call, and the person on the other end of the phone claimed to be an assistant in the office of the Inspector General of Taxation of the IRS.

The Inspector General of Taxation of the IRS is none other than the famous David, so he was naturally shocked.

But what shocked him even more was what happened next. The office assistant on the other end of the phone actually claimed that David himself wanted to meet him.

After hearing the news, he was so scared that he kept wondering if he had offended David in any way.

Fortunately, after thinking for a long time, he realized that he and David had no grudges against each other, and although he was the editor-in-chief of the Washington Post, he had never specifically attacked David or the IRS. He felt relieved.

But even so, when he came in front of David, he couldn't help feeling a little uneasy.

After all, a man's reputation is like a tree's shadow. David not only has the feat of sending many powerful people to prison.

Now, with his promotion, this historic tax avoidance bill has passed both the House and the Senate. His reputation is at its peak and no one can afford to offend him.

"Don't be nervous, Mr. Pinkman. I have no ill will towards you or your newspaper!"

Hearing David's comfort, Pinkman's uneasiness dissipated a lot, and then he asked, "I wonder why Inspector General David asked me to come here today?"

"I wonder what Mr. Pinkman thinks of the tax shelter bill?"

Pinkman thought for a moment and replied, "From my personal point of view, this bill is indeed beneficial to the country and the people, so I personally support it!"

He did not say this against his will. After all, this bill was meant to fleece the capitalists, and it was foreseeable that the ones who would benefit would be ordinary people and the middle class.

And he is not a capitalist, so he naturally tends to support this bill.

"What do you think about the president's refusal to sign the bill and sending it back to the Senate?"

"This... maybe the President has his own political views..."

People on the Internet can scold Padden as a spokesperson for capitalists.

But he is a public figure after all, so naturally he cannot attack Paidon directly like ordinary people.

After all, the president may not be able to deal with those citizens, but it is easy to deal with him, a newspaper editor.

"Mr. Pinkman, there are no outsiders here, you can speak freely!"

David looked at him with a smile.

Seeing David's look, Pinkman also felt a little pressure.

Did I say something wrong?
Or is David trying to force him to take sides?
But there are so many powerful people in Washington, so why did they call on a small newspaper editor like him and force him to take sides?

Pinkman, who was confused, said bluntly: "Inspector General David, since there are no outsiders here, just tell me what you want me to do."

"Nothing. I'm going to give you a big piece of news, but I don't know if you have the courage to report it!"

"Big news!"

Pinkman was shocked and asked, "Excuse me, Inspector General David, what's the big news?"

David opened the cabinet below, took out a document, and pushed it in front of Pinkman.

Pinkman didn't hesitate and just picked it up and opened it to examine it.

A few minutes later, after reading the documents, Pinkman's face showed a look of shock, and then he said, "Inspector General David, where did you get all these?"

"I don't need to tell you this. You just need to tell me if you have the courage to report it!"

The document contained nothing but dirty secrets about Paden.

This was a self-torture tactic that David and Wilder had agreed upon yesterday. He would reveal some dirt on the president so that the White House could pretend to be forced to sign the agreement.

Hearing David's words, Pinkman's face darkened and he fell into a state of thought.

He asked what big news David was going to give him, and it turned out to be dirty secrets about the president. This was more than just big news, it was news that shocked the world.

But then again, although reporting on the president's dirty laundry will attract global attention, it also carries great risks.

As mentioned before, as the head of state, Paiden may not be able to deal with the IRS, but it is easy for him to deal with him as an editor-in-chief.

So he was a little conflicted at this moment. On the one hand, this was indeed big news with a large amount of traffic, and on the other hand, this might involve retaliation from the White House, which would put him in a difficult position.

After about three minutes of thinking, Pinkman finally decided not to take such a big risk and reluctantly refused, "Inspector General David, I don't think I can handle this news!"

"You, the Washington Post, are one of the most famous media outlets in the United States, and you are the editor-in-chief. If you can't take it down, then which other media outlet can take it down?"

There was a hint of sarcasm in David's words.

"This……"

Pinkman didn't know how to answer for a moment.

(End of this chapter)