Top Senate Democrats are probing President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Internal Revenue Service over “unusually timed contributions” uncovered by The Lever. The new scrutiny of the donations — which Democrats say “potentially violate federal bribery laws” — comes less than a week before the long-delayed Senate confirmation hearings for former U.S. Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.)’s IRS nomination.
In letters released on Thursday, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) asked seven companies why they donated money to Long’s dormant Senate campaign committee following his Jan. 20 nomination to serve as IRS director. The letter repeatedly cites a recent Lever story on how Long had a six-figure personal debt paid off by these firms, which have “significant, often contentious business before the tax agency he would lead.”
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Long’s Senate confirmation hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, May 20.
Long ran an unsuccessful campaign for U.S. Senate in 2022 and extended a personal loan of $250,000 to his campaign committee, of which $130,000 remained unpaid by the end of 2024. Following Trump’s announcement that he planned to nominate Long to lead the IRS, the campaign committee raked in nearly $137,000 in less than three weeks in January, according to The Lever’s reporting. Prior to these donations, Long’s campaign committee had raised less than $36,000 in the last two years, potentially forcing Long to absorb the financial losses on his loan.
The seven companies now being probed by the Senate Democrats were included in the contributions identified by The Lever.
Several of the companies that donated to Long were named in an April 14 letter from the Senate Finance Committee calling for a criminal investigation into an allegedly fraudulent tax credit scheme. The Senate letter claims these companies “used the identity and image of Native American tribes without their knowledge to dupe investors into spending millions to purchase fake tax credits.”
All together, the donations received by Long from these financial firms “raise serious questions about whether they were made in order to influence Mr. Long’s decisions if he is confirmed as IRS Commissioner,” the lawmakers wrote in their May letter. “These donations appear to be a brazen and unethical attempt to curry favor with Mr. Long — and may also be illegal. If the campaign contributions were made with the intent to influence Mr. Long’s official acts as IRS Commissioner, they could potentially violate federal bribery laws.”
Federal anti-bribery laws prohibit companies or individuals from giving “anything of value” to public officials with the intent to influence their actions, make them do something that is not in their official role, or get them to testify in a certain way.
Michael Beckel, senior research director of the campaign-finance reform organization Issue One, first spotlighted the donations. “Senators of both parties would be right to ask tough questions about these contributions to former Congressman Long,” Beckel told The Lever. “Taking what appears to be legalized bribes should be disqualifying.”
