Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) didn’t mince words during Tuesday’s confirmation hearing for Billy Long, President Donald Trump’s pick to be the next commissioner of the IRS.
“You shouldn’t be within 1,000 miles of the directorship of the IRS” if you can’t answer basic questions, Warren told Long after he refused to specify that, under his leadership, he wouldn’t let Trump direct the IRS to start or stop an audit into any taxpayer.
After telling Warren he doesn’t “intend to let anybody direct me to start an audit for political reasons,” she asked him if that included the president of the United States. Long offered a complex answer.
“They’re not going to tell me what to do. I can’t speak for others,” Long replied. “There’s other agents at the IRS that you’re talking about, but I’m telling you what I don’t want to have happen to my IRS.”
Growing visibly frustrated, Warren accused him of wanting to “sit there and dance around” her questions about the matter.
