When the term “whistleblower” is used in connection with President Donald Trump, it usually refers to the person in the federal government who came forward after being deeply troubled by Trump’s July 25 phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. But there is another whistleblower who Trump, according to HuffPost’s Arthur Delaney, needs to be worried about — and that one came forward with tax-related allegations.
In a HuffPost article published this week, Delaney notes that the tax whistleblower has offered “possible evidence that Trump tried to corrupt an Internal Revenue Service audit of his personal tax returns.”
The tax whistleblower’s identity, like the identity of the national security whistleblower, remains unknown to the general public. But that person, according to Delaney, went to the House Ways and Means Committee — which is chaired by Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts — and Delaney describes Neal as being “cautious” and not very “outspoken” about the whistleblower’s allegations.
The House Ways and Means Committee has sued Trump’s administration for failing to comply with a formal request of its tax returns. And Neal, Delaney observes, has opted to “stay focused on the lawsuit, using the whistleblower’s material to bolster that case.”
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a Texas Democrat and member of the House Ways and Means Committee, told HuffPost that he didn’t know anything about the tax whistleblower.
“I think that Chairman Neal has appropriately kept that very close since that person’s job could be in serious jeopardy,” Doggett told HuffPost.
This week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi came out in favor of an impeachment inquiry in response to allegations by the national security whistleblower — not the tax whistleblower — and reports that Trump tried to pressure Zelensky into digging up dirt on a political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, and his son Hunter Biden. It remains to be seen whether or not the impeachment inquiry will eventually lead to a full House vote on articles of impeachment, but Jeff Hauser (director of the anti-corruption group, the Revolving Door Project) believes that tax-related allegations against Trump could make an impeachment case stronger.
Hauser told HuffPost, “The House Ways and Means Committee must figure out a way to make the public aware of the serious cause to worry that the IRS might have been corrupted by Trump.”