Back in February, Donald Trump took the right-wing conspiracy theories that Christians in America are enduring severe persecution and that the Obama administration is using the IRS to target conservatives, and placed himself in the center of both, humbly declaring that he was facing an IRS audit “because of the fact I’m a strong Christian.”

Trump has said that he will not make his tax returns public because of the ongoing audit, a claim that tax experts have questioned.

Trump’s campaign shed some light on the issue yesterday when it released a letter from his lawyers confirming that the candidate is being audited. But, at the same time, it undermined Trump’s claim that he is facing specific targeting for his well-known Christian beliefs:

As the political press focused on Donald Trump’s contradictory statements about abortion Wednesday, his campaign quietly released an unusual letter from his tax lawyers claiming the businessman has been under “continuous examination” by the IRS since 2002. … Trump’s tax returns have been under “continuous examination” by the IRS since 2002, “consistent with the IRS’ practice for large and complex businesses,” the lawyers wrote.

Seeing that the lawyers called the audits “consistent with the IRS’ practice for large and complex businesses,” we are not sure how Trump can continue to say with a straight face that the audit is actually an act of anti-Christian persecution.

Not that that will stop him continuing to repeat a claim that his own campaign has debunked.