An effort to sink President Donald Trump’s pick to head the IRS found a Democrat senator closing with an allegation of recorded conversations.
Since the president’s return to the White House, the left has seemingly jumped at every opportunity to obstruct the America First agenda with lawsuits and delay tactics. Tuesday, as the Senate Finance Committee considered the nomination for IRS commissioner, ranking member Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden (D) saw fit to level an allegation in his closing remarks.
“Our staff investigators have on tape now, tax promoters saying you met with him at the inauguration and promised him a favorable private letter ruling,” he said to former Missouri Rep. Billy Long (R) when the nominee would have no opportunity to respond. “We also have on tape the White River CFO, who gave you the thousands of dollars, that he expects favorable treatment of these fake tribal credits.”
Throughout the hearing, lawmakers focused on Long’s work as a tax credit promoter and asserted that he was in the business of selling fake tax credits. To support the notion of a pay-for-play scheme, Wyden highlighted more than $165,000 that had been donated to Long’s dormant Senate campaign in the wake of his nomination, of which the legislator contended “$130,000 went directly into Congressman Long’s pockets when he paid back his personal loans.”
“My only involvement in this matter … was to connect interested friends of mine … just friends, if they had any interest,” Long said during questioning. As for $65,000 in income from the White River Energy firm that had been noted on his financial disclosure, the nominee remarked, “I worked through Capitol Edge Strategies. I didn’t work through — I never talked to anybody at White River. I don’t even know anybody at White River, and I don’t have any way to know who the tribe is, even.”
Sen. Ron @RonWyden: “Do you believe that these so-called “Tribal Tax Credits” actually exist?
IRS Commissioner nominee Billy Long: “I can’t answer yes or no, because I do not know. I think the jury’s still out on that.” pic.twitter.com/ZDMmDkxJi4
— CSPAN (@cspan) May 20, 2025
Leaning into fearmongering, Wyden insisted, “Donald Trump wants to use the IRS as a cudgel to beat his adversaries into submission. He wants to feed its legally-protected data to his masked squads of agents, disappearing people. His nominee to lead the agency is a Trump loyalist through and through, not an independent tax professional or somebody with extensive management experience. And our serious concerns and questions about Congressman Long’s involvement with fraudulent tax schemes have gone unanswered.”
The Hill sought comment from the White House and received a statement from a senior transition official that read, “Congressman Long has never spoken with anyone at White River Energy, nor has he ever made a comment like this to anybody else. These accusers are pathetic, cowardly losers, and it’s notable that this fake news was ‘dropped’ in the final moments of the hearing so that Congressman Long could not respond.”
Meanwhile, as other Democrats on the committee advanced the idea of a “blatant conflict of interest,” as Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith had called it, Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R) had spoken to the positives of the nominee.
“What he will do is bring a fresh and much-needed perspective to the IRS. Before entering public service,” said Blackburn, “he was a small business owner and professional auctioneer — careers that grounded him in the real world challenges that everyday small business owners … face.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.