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The whistleblower, a career IRS official, told the Post that he had submitted an official complaint and sent it to House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley and the Treasury Department inspector general for tax administration on July 29. CNN has previously reported that Neal received the complaint.
The whistleblower did not disclose details of the report to the Post.
The whistleblower denied acting with political motivations and argued that the complaint being uncorroborated was “what investigations are for,” according to the Post.
“Anyone who knows me knows I would not hesitate to do the same, as would most career IRS public servants, regardless of any political preference,” he told the paper. “I take very seriously the duty of career civil servants to act with integrity and perform our duties impartially, even at the risk that someone will make a charge of bias.”
Citing multiple people familiar with the complaint, the Post reported that White House officials found it to be insubstantial because it was dependent on conversations with secondary government officials. Two administration officials characterized the complaint to the Post as partisan hearsay.
Congressional Democrats, meanwhile, were concerned by the complaint. Neal wrote in the court filing from August that it was a grave allegation that could indicate that political appointees potentially tried to interfere with the historically apolitical presidential audit process, the paper reported.
The presidential tax audit program, conducted by the IRS, automatically audits every incoming president’s taxes. Neal has argued that he wants the records to make sure the presidential tax audit program is working properly and to make legislative fixes if necessary.
While the whistleblower refused to discuss the specifics of the complaint, “I have some legitimate concerns about reckless statements being made about whistleblowers,” he told the paper.
Those types of comments “attack the messenger when the focus should be on the facts that were presented,” the whistleblower added. “I am concerned also by the relative silence of people who should be repudiating these dangerous attacks in the strongest terms.”
CNN’s Lauren Fox and Ellie Kaufman contributed to this report.
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