Rep. Richard Neal, Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has finally requested an investigation from the Treasury Department's inspector general into claims from an IRS official whistleblower regarding interference in the regular audit of Donald Trump or Mike Pence's taxes.
The whistleblower went directly to Congress in August, to Ways and Means and to Sen. Chuck Grassley at the Senate Finance Committee and Neal used the complaint in his ongoing lawsuit for Trump's tax returns. Numerous people familiar with the report said that it alleges at least one political appointee in Treasury had attempted to breach the firewall around the audit of Trump's or Pence's tax returns and "improperly interfere." The whistleblower spoke with the Washington Post Thursday, and did not confirm that, but pressed for an investigation.
Now, finally, that appears to be happening. "Chairman Neal has asked Treasury O.I.G. to inquire into the process by which the department received, evaluated, and responded to the committee's request for federal tax information," Rich Delmar, Treasury’s acting inspector general told The New York Times. "We are undertaking that inquiry."