Al Drago/Bloomberg
President Donald Trump pulled Donald Korb as his nominee to be the IRS’s top attorney days after getting blowback from a prominent member of his political movement, derailing plans to confirm the longtime tax lawyer next week.
Trump alerted followers to his decision to withdraw the nomination of Korb to be IRS chief counsel and assistant general counsel at the Treasury Department in a post on his Truth Social platform late Friday.
Trump didn’t give a reason for the withdrawal, and spokespeople at the White House, Treasury Department, and IRS didn’t immediately return requests for comment. Korb also didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Korb joins dozens of other nominees to fall short of confirmation as Senate Republicans have quietly pushed back on his picks for key offices across the executive branch.
The ongoing vacancy means the IRS will continue to run without Senate-confirmed leadership while it’s racing to prepare for the first tax-filing season under the new GOP tax law.
Korb, a counsel at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP who held the chief counsel role during former President George W. Bush’s administration, was scheduled to be confirmed next week. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, took procedural maneuvers this week to advance his nomination over Democratic objections.
But Laura Loomer, a political activist aligned with Trump, questioned Korb’s party loyalties. Citing reporting and an Insight published in Bloomberg Tax, she challenged Korb’s “by-the-book” style and criticism of whistleblowers.
She also lambasted his political donations to Democrats and pointed out support from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, for his nomination in committee.
“Korb has several major red flags that disqualify him from assuming his role under the Trump administration,” Loomer wrote on X on Nov. 12, tagging senior White House officials. “It is evident that Don Korb is NOT the right person to serve as IRS Chief Counsel in America’s current political climate.”
White House officials told Loomer they pulled the nomination in response to her critiques, she said in an interview Friday night.
“Don Korb got Loomered,” she said.
“It’s just another example of the vetting crisis” at the Trump administration, she added, citing next week’s scheduled votes. “This guy could have been another Lois Lerner.”
Lerner is a former IRS official who was at the center of an Obama-era controversy around conservative groups’ applications for tax-exempt status.
Three acting chief counsels have succeeded Biden appointee Marjorie Rollinson since she resigned this year, with Treasury Department Assistant Secretary Kenneth Kies currently in the role.
Most Democrats were preparing to oppose Korb after he told Senate staff that a former longtime agency employee should be “shot” for his resignation during the tax-filing season — a comment Korb said was a figure of speech taken out of context. Democrats also raised concerns that Korb would defend data sharing between the IRS and the Department of Homeland Security to target immigrants.
Korb also rejected a demand from Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s, D-Massachusetts, that he follow Rollinson in committing to recuse himself from business dealings with former clients and future IRS litigants once he leaves office. He did, however, agree to submit to an existing independent screening at the chief counsel’s office to comply with his ethics commitments.
