(FreedomBeacon.com)- Democrats have asked a watchdog agency to investigate why the Internal Revenue Service didn’t properly audit former President Donald Trump’s tax returns, even though it has guidelines in place that say it must do so.
The 15 Democrats, led by California Representative Jimmy Gomez, have raised questions about whether the Trump administration interfered politically with the IRS.
The group of Democrats all served on the House Ways and Means Committee during the time of the Trump audits that never happened. They’re now asking the Government Accountability Office to investigate why there was a long delay for the IRS to audit the then-president, even though there’s a mandate in place that the agency has to scrutinize the tax returns of all sitting presidents.
The group sent a letter to Gene Dorado, the chief of the GAO, a copy of which Politico obtained. It says they are interested in knowing why Trump’s returns were only audited after Representative Richard Neal, who was serving as the chair of the Ways and Means Committee, first requested in April 2019 to see Trump’s tax information.
They also wrote that they want to know why the tax agency didn’t seek help from Congress or Treasury if they didn’t have enough resources to pour through Trump’s returns.
In December, a report was released that showed only one IRS agent was given the assignment of auditing Trump’s tax returns. In addition, the audits that were described in the report all happened after Trump had already departed the White House.
An internal memo sent within the IRS — and discovered by the Ways and Means Committee — said there was no way the agency had the ability to examine all of the “pass-through entities” that Trump reported on his returns, which totaled more than 400, with the resources the agency had at the times.
Finally, the Democrats wrote in their letter that they want to know if there are any administrative actions that Treasury or the IRS could take in this case, and other laws Congress might consider introducing that could protect potential meddling in the program.
In the letter, the Democrats wrote:
“Members of Congress need further information related to the failures to conduct presidential audits during the Trump Administration to ensure that, as elected representatives, we are adequately equipped to assess and address the integrity and continued function of the presidential audit program, as well as necessary improvements to the program.”
Trump’s tax returns for six years were released late last year after the Ways and Means Committee finally got ahold of them, after fighting in court for the right over the last few years. There were in excess of 2,700 pages in those returns, and they included multiple sole proprietorships, as well as income that came from many foreign countries.
This latest letter by Democrats in the House could be an effort to try to keep negative information about Trump in the press as he’s building up his candidacy for president in 2024. Right now, he has no official challengers, so he has no one who’s consistently publicly countering anything that he says.
