Trump vs. Musk is Back? It’s been several months of turmoil at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), with cuts from DOGE hitting that agency particularly hard, right on time for tax season.
Now, there’s a major, DOGE-related controversy over who’s going to lead the IRS.
Elon Musk vs. Donald Trump?
Per the New York Times, Gary Shapley, the longtime IRS agent recently named as the agency’s acting head, is out, after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent complained that he had not authorized Shapley’s hiring. The previous interim head of the IRS, Melanie Krause, had resigned in early April, after the IRS reached a deal to share data with immigration authorities.
Even more intriguingly, Bessent stated that Shapley had been installed at the behest of Elon Musk. So it’s a possible sign for those who had been anticipating a falling out between the president and the “special government employee” who happens to be the world’s richest man.
How It Happened
Per the Times, which cited “five people with knowledge of the change and the sensitive discussions that precipitated it,” Bessent believed that Musk had done an “end run” around the Treasury secretary, whose purview includes the IRS. Musk’s DOGE reportedly leaned on the White House to give the position to Shapley, without including Bessent in the process.
Musk was open about favoring Howard Lutnick over Bessent when Trump was choosing who to name as Treasury Secretary; Lutnick ended up as Secretary of Commerce.
Bessent was able to convince the White House to “unwind” the decision to put Shapley as the leading head of the IRS, with the interim IRS job now expected to go to Michael Faulkender, currently a deputy secretary of the treasury, under Bessent. Billy Long, a former member of Congress from Missouri, has been nominated as the permanent commissioner of the IRS and is awaiting Senate confirmation.
Who is Gary Shapley?
If Shapley’s name sounds familiar, it may be from the Biden Administration, when Shapley came forward to allege that the IRS had “slow-walked” an investigation into potential tax evasion by Hunter Biden, the then-president’s son.
Shapley testified before Congress after the younger Biden reached a plea bargain. Hunter Biden later pleaded guilty to the tax charges, although he was pardoned, for both that and a gun charge, by his father.
Trump Officials vs. Elon Musk
This backs up reporting from recent weeks that Elon Musk’s act is starting to wear thin with top officials in the Trump Administration.
Last week, Musk amplified a post by pro-Trump influencer Laura Loomer, who questioned Bessent’s loyalty to the president. The argument from Loomer was that Bessent had met with the head of a nonprofit called Operation HOPE, and someone who has said negative things about Trump in the past.
Musk has also been feuding with Peter Navarro, Trump’s leading adviser on trade policy.
Trouble For Long?
After three different interim IRS commissioners in the span of a few months, there’s another controversy involving Trump’s pick as permanent head of the agency.
Per The Lever, which cited financial disclosures, Billy Long recently paid off a $130,000 debt from a failed U.S. Senate race in 2022, using campaign contributions that he received after he was announced as Trump’s choice to lead the IRS. And the donors, per the report, were “campaign donors whose firms have significant, often contentious business before the tax agency he would lead.”
After raising $36,000 in the last two years toward the campaign debt, Long “suddenly raked in nearly $137,000 in less than three weeks in January,” The Lever reported.
The contributions were first spotted by Issue One, a campaign finance watchdog organization. Financial advisors for White River Energy and Lifetime Advisors are among the donors, the report said, and both were named in a recent letter by Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee “calling for a criminal investigation into what they allege is a fraudulent tax credit scheme orchestrated by the companies.”
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter
Jim G
April 18, 2025 at 4:34 pm
The current gaggle of sycophant’s in Washington obviously watches way too much TV… Their actions appear to be a first reading of a poorly written B movie… or perhaps the Super Bowl with plays called in by the Beer guy.
The current gestations, a somewhat repeat of failed season one, do not appear to meet any of this countries needs. I am sure, that voters, weather Red or Blue did not vote to have what “We” have built… Yes, we all agree waste must be eliminated, graft when and where FOUND must be eliminated, from the old system and the new ‘watchdogs’. We all know… it’s easier and cheaper to fix something than it is to replace it when, destroyed. You can’t trade in a car, if you can’t get it to the dealer… trust me on this one…
Is any of this what you voted for…? I didn’t!
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