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Trump's Pick for Top I.R.S. Lawyer Works at Firm That Represents Him
Trump’s Pick for Top I.R.S. Lawyer Works at Firm That Represents Him
James R. Gadwood, the president’s nominee for chief counsel at the Internal Revenue Service, works at Miller & Chevalier, which has represented Mr. Trump in tax matters.
The Internal Revenue Service building in Washington. James R. Gadwood is the second person President Trump has nominated to the agency’s top legal job in his second term. Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times
By Andrew Duehren
Reporting from Washington
June 23, 2026
President Trump has nominated a lawyer from a firm that worked on his taxes to become the top attorney at the Internal Revenue Service, an arrangement that could add to the scrutiny that the nomination was already likely to face after the administration granted the president protection from tax audits last month. ... The White House said on Tuesday that Mr. Trump was nominating James R. Gadwood, a tax lawyer at Miller & Chevalier, to be the chief counsel of the I.R.S. Miller & Chevalier represents DJT Holdings LLC, Mr. Trump’s holding company, in tax matters, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Mr. Gadwood, who says on his law firm profile that he has represented large corporations and the wealthy in I.R.S. audits, did not immediately respond to a question about whether he had participated in his firm’s work for Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump and his holding company have repeatedly faced I.R.S. audits; the agency’s procedure had been to audit the president’s tax return every year.
A focus in Mr. Gadwood’s confirmation process will probably be the Trump administration’s apparently unprecedented move to stop I.R.S. audits of Mr. Trump, his family and their affiliates. Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, ordered that protection, which covers tax returns already filed, as part of the resolution to a lawsuit Mr. Trump brought against the I.R.S. at the start of the year. ... The Trump administration has stood by the tax immunity even as it backed away from creating a $1.8 billion fund that was intended to compensate self-proclaimed victims of federal overreach. The fund was part of a deal to end Mr. Trump’s lawsuit against the I.R.S., which argued that the agency should have stopped the leak of Mr. Trump’s tax returns during his first term.
{snip}
If confirmed, Mr. Gadwood would oversee a staff of several thousand lawyers who help administer the tax system by writing tax regulations, providing advice to I.R.S. agents in audits and representing the agency in tax court. They also provide input on issues outside of tax court: Lawyers at the I.R.S. had pushed for the Justice Department to contest Mr. Trump’s suit against the I.R.S. The Justice Department instead never responded to Mr. Trump’s suit at all, and Mr. Blanche offered him the sweeping tax protections.
{snip}
Benjamin Protess contributed reporting
Andrew Duehren covers tax policy for The Times from Washington.
James R. Gadwood, the president’s nominee for chief counsel at the Internal Revenue Service, works at Miller & Chevalier, which has represented Mr. Trump in tax matters.
The Internal Revenue Service building in Washington. James R. Gadwood is the second person President Trump has nominated to the agency’s top legal job in his second term. Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times
By Andrew Duehren
Reporting from Washington
June 23, 2026
President Trump has nominated a lawyer from a firm that worked on his taxes to become the top attorney at the Internal Revenue Service, an arrangement that could add to the scrutiny that the nomination was already likely to face after the administration granted the president protection from tax audits last month. ... The White House said on Tuesday that Mr. Trump was nominating James R. Gadwood, a tax lawyer at Miller & Chevalier, to be the chief counsel of the I.R.S. Miller & Chevalier represents DJT Holdings LLC, Mr. Trump’s holding company, in tax matters, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Mr. Gadwood, who says on his law firm profile that he has represented large corporations and the wealthy in I.R.S. audits, did not immediately respond to a question about whether he had participated in his firm’s work for Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump and his holding company have repeatedly faced I.R.S. audits; the agency’s procedure had been to audit the president’s tax return every year.
A focus in Mr. Gadwood’s confirmation process will probably be the Trump administration’s apparently unprecedented move to stop I.R.S. audits of Mr. Trump, his family and their affiliates. Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, ordered that protection, which covers tax returns already filed, as part of the resolution to a lawsuit Mr. Trump brought against the I.R.S. at the start of the year. ... The Trump administration has stood by the tax immunity even as it backed away from creating a $1.8 billion fund that was intended to compensate self-proclaimed victims of federal overreach. The fund was part of a deal to end Mr. Trump’s lawsuit against the I.R.S., which argued that the agency should have stopped the leak of Mr. Trump’s tax returns during his first term.
{snip}
If confirmed, Mr. Gadwood would oversee a staff of several thousand lawyers who help administer the tax system by writing tax regulations, providing advice to I.R.S. agents in audits and representing the agency in tax court. They also provide input on issues outside of tax court: Lawyers at the I.R.S. had pushed for the Justice Department to contest Mr. Trump’s suit against the I.R.S. The Justice Department instead never responded to Mr. Trump’s suit at all, and Mr. Blanche offered him the sweeping tax protections.
{snip}
Benjamin Protess contributed reporting
Andrew Duehren covers tax policy for The Times from Washington.
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