A focus of the fight is the mandatory audit program that the Internal Revenue Service conducts on the president’s and vice president’s tax returns.

As the fight has intensified, an IRS whistleblower in July filed a complaint with lawmakers and relayed concerns that at least one Treasury Department official attempted to interfere in that audit process.

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On Monday, Neal sent a letter to Richard Delmar, Treasury’s acting inspector general, and asked for a review.

“I want to be assured that Treasury, including the [IRS], is enforcing the law in a fair and impartial manner and no one is endeavoring to intimidate or impede government officials and employees carrying out their duties,” Neal wrote in the letter.

Asked whether the inquiry encompassed the whistleblower complaint, Delmar in a brief interview referred instead to Neal’s letter and said it would focus on matters the lawmaker raised.

“Chairman Neal has asked Treasury OIG to inquire into the process by which the Department received, evaluated, and responded to the Committee’s request for federal tax information,” Delmar said in a statement. “We are undertaking that inquiry.”

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The Treasury Department has two inspectors general. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, a separate office, has declined to comment on whether it has opened an inquiry into the whistleblower’s complaint.

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Trump has broken decades of precedent by refusing to reveal his tax returns. He has given a variety of explanations as to why he won’t make them public, saying that they are under audit or that they are too complicated for people to understand.

Democrats have filed suit against the Treasury Department, alleging Trump’s tax returns must be turned over under federal law.

Last month, the Justice Department urged a federal judge to throw out the suit, saying the federal court lacked jurisdiction under the Constitution to hear the case.

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“For nearly two hundred years, the Legislative Branch never invoked the power of the Judiciary to decide which side should win in a political battle with the Executive,” Justice Department lawyers argued in the filing.