Donald Trump announced yesterday he intends to nominate former Missouri Republican Rep. Billy Long to serve as the commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
“I am pleased to announce that former Congressman Billy Long, of the Great State of Missouri, will be appointed to serve as the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS),” Trump wrote.
“Billy brings 32 years of experience running his own businesses in Real Estate and, as one of the premier Auctioneers in the Country,” he added.
Trump said his relationship with Long, who currently works as a business and tax adviser, dates back to 2011 and described him as a “people person” who was “well respected on both sides of the aisle.”
According to The Hill, Long aligned with Trump’s political circle after launching an unsuccessful bid to represent Missouri in the Senate in 2022.
He hired Jamestown Associates, a Republican media firm that debuted advertisements for Trump’s first presidential race, to oversee his media strategy, and the former president’s fundraising aficionado Caroline Wren to help handle his campaign expenditures in addition to Kellyanne Conway, according to the outlet.
He has made frequent appearances on Fox News with Tucker Carlson while trying to step into the political limelight and also previously served as a talk show host on KWTO AM 560 in Springfield, with a listening area that covered 95 counties.
A contrast to current IRS commissioner, Danny Werfel, who has three degrees from Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Cornell University, respectively. Long does not have a college degree, although he briefly attended the University of Missouri before dropping out in 1976.