Tax court consolidates Clinton Foundation whistleblower cases, signaling progress towards trial

A judge has agreed to consolidate two cases brought by whistleblowers against the IRS, alleging the tax agency failed to provide them with an award for information on the Clinton Foundation, according to court documents reviewed by Just the News.

The decision, which was not opposed by the IRS, indicates that the trial is moving forward.  

The cases were brought by retired federal agent John Moynihan and private fraud expert Larry Doyle and have wound their way through the U.S. Tax Court for years.

The details of the investigation conducted by the two respected forensic financial investigators, Doyle and Moynihan, first surfaced during a 2018 congressional hearing. The pair said they first filed a complaint with the IRS in 2017 sharing the findings of an investigation into the Clinton Foundation. 

They testified that year that they believed the foundation wrongly operated as a foreign lobbyist by accepting overseas donations, with the purpose of influencing U.S. policy. 

The pair later turned the information they had uncovered over to the IRS as a “whistleblower claim for award,” a program under which the IRS receives claims “about suspected tax fraud, evasion or tax law violation the IRS is authorized to administer, enforce or investigate.” 

Earlier this month in the U.S. Tax Court shows the Chief Judge has ordered several disparate cases associated with the Clinton Foundation information be consolidated into one, setting the stage for a trial, according to a filing reviewed by Just the News. 

In the filing, the Chief Judge of the U.S. Tax Court Patrick J. Urda ordered all the parties to submit a report on the “present status” of these cases by Jan. 9, 2026, indicating that the challenge is progressing.

You can read the filing below: 

So far, still unresolved

The Tax Court had tentatively scheduled a Dec. 1 trial, but met unexpected resistance from the Trump administration.  The Internal Revenue Service under Trump filed a motion in August in the case arguing that as a matter of administrative and procedural law, the judge should not let the case proceed to trial because after an initial review, the IRS declined to look into the whistleblower complaint and, therefore, the plaintiffs had no standing to sue. 

So far, it appears the court has not ruled on that motion to dismiss the case, according to the court docket.

Doyle told Just the News in August that that latest twist is just another example of the resistance the government has displayed to investigating the Clinton Foundation over many years.  

“Not surprising that the IRS would seek to dismiss our case in this fashion simply because that is the same tactic the IRS deployed in our initial case ongoing now almost 6 years in US Tax Court and growing more serious everyday," he said.

“The simple fact is the more the American public learns about the Clinton Foundation as it has in recent days, the more it is entitled to know all the truth and facts involved," he added.

Moynihan and Doyle first detailed the findings from their investigation in that December 2018 testimony before a House committee. 

Compliance problems in the past

The foundation "began acting as an agent of foreign governments early in its life and throughout its existence," Moynihan testified. "As such, the foundation should've registered under FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act). Ultimately, the foundation and its auditors conceded in formal submissions that it did operate as a (foreign) agent, therefore the foundation is not entitled to its 501c3 tax-exempt privileges as outlined in IRS 170 (c)2."

The evidence the pair presented to the IRS were detailed in agency summaries presented in court filings. It included concerns that the Clinton Foundation: was operating as an agent for foreigners who paid it money and that it failed to register under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA); contributed to activities prohibited by its tax-exempt status, including abortions overseas; and one of the Foundation's allies declared it was a for-profit entity overseas in certain countries while seeking 501c3 non-profit status in America.

The foundation has acknowledged that past internal audits revealed compliance problems with some of its practices but insisted those have been fixed and that it always complied with the law, strongly disputing the whistleblowers' allegations.

In all, Moynihan and Doyle filed two complaints against the Clinton Foundation, the latter which included some of its allies. It now appears that the two complaints have now been consolidated into one case ahead of trial. 

In the first case back in October 2020, Tax Court Judge David Gustafson first allowed the whistleblowers' case to proceed, rejecting an IRS motion for summary judgment. He cited nonpublic evidence that the FBI and IRS may have worked jointly on a criminal investigation focused on the Clinton Foundation. Months later, the judge suggested the IRS Whistleblower Office may have evidence it had not disclosed to the court in the case.

“Shut it down” says Obama Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates

Additionally, Just the News recently reported an internal memo that shows the Obama Justice Department and FBI put up roadblocks in three separate probes into possible pay-to-play corruption allegations against the Clinton Foundation. 

“Shut it down,” Obama Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates was quoted as saying in March 2016 in memos assembled by career agents in three different cities detailing the extensive political obstruction they faced from their own bosses and the Obama Justice Department during the 2016 election as they probed the allegations. 

The memos, which were written in 2017, were uncovered by FBI Director Kash Patel and obtained by Just the News in August. The memos include a timeline of the obstruction, showing that as early as February 2016, the Justice Department “indicated they would not be supportive of an FBI investigation.” 

The timeline also shows that, in mid-February 2016, then-Deputy Director Andrew McCabe ordered that “no overt investigative steps” were allowed to be taken in the Clinton Foundation investigation “without his approval” — a command he allegedly repeated numerous times over the coming months.

“Prohibited Access” case files to be eyed

The FBI is also conducting a broader review of material uncovered in “prohibited access” case files to determine whether its own agents or leaders may have obstructed criminal or congressional investigations. 

The evidence in those files covers nearly a decade and is related several major political scandals, including Russiagate, allegations of Clinton and Biden family corruption, and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, officials told Just the News in September, speaking only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.