'So inappropriate': Trump Treasury appointee asks IRS to reconsider audit of Mike Lindell

One of President Donald Trump's political appointees at the Department of the Treasury has reportedly requested that the Internal Revenue Service reconsider its audit of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's business.

Two sources told The Washington Post that David Eisner, a deputy secretary at the Treasury Department, had inquired about the audit because he was concerned that Lindell may have been "inappropriately targeted."

In the request, Eisner allegedly referred to Lindell as a "high profile friend of the president."

The inquiry was referred to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, an independent watchdog for the agency, one source confirmed.

"That's so inappropriate," former tax official Nina Olson told the Post. "In my 18 years as the national taxpayer advocate with over 4 million cases that came into the Taxpayer Advocate Service, in that time with taxpayers experiencing significant problems with the IRS, I have never had a Treasury official write me about a case."

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Lindell has blamed the audit on a misunderstanding about an employee retention credit his company claimed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The IRS also disagrees with Lindell about when he should take a deduction for a warehouse full of an expired substance that he claimed would cure COVID-19.

"They want me to take that deduction in 2022, [but] I didn't have big gains then," Lindell explained to the paper. "I want to take the deductions when I had gains. This is another loss that I don't need."

Officials for the Treasury Department declined to comment on the request to review Lindell's audit.