president Donald TrumpThe pick to serve as U.S. aviation ambassador to the United Nations is facing intense scrutiny over hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes that were not disclosed in official ethics documents obtained by Fox News Digital.

Jeffrey Anderson, a retired Delta Air Lines captain and U.S. Navy veteran, was nominated to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the International Civil Aviation Organization in July 2025. The International Civil Aviation Organization is the United Nations office in Canada that oversees international aviation standards, including issues related to safety, navigation and environmental protection.

In a statement to Fox News Digital in 2025, the administration supported him as “extremely qualified” for the position and “an excellent choice to represent the President’s America-first foreign policy agenda in the international aviation community.” tax issues Past Democratic support also came to light.

The position is a Senate-confirmed position, and Anderson’s nomination has been referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for consideration.

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President Donald Trump’s choice to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (UN) to represent aviation is facing intense scrutiny over hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes that were not disclosed in official ethics documents. (Alex Brandon/AP)

Now, Anderson has signed his ethics agreement and disclosure form, which make no mention of the now-paid lien, Fox News Digital found.

Fox News Digital obtained Anderson’s IRS federal tax lien release certificate, which shows he and his wife had multiple federal tax liens for tax years 2013-2019, with unpaid assessment balances totaling approximately $426,000. The liens are related to “small business/self-employed” taxes, documents show.

According to the IRS, a federal tax lien is “a legal claim made by the government against your property when you neglect or fail to pay your taxes.”

The liens were filed in two Georgia counties and were not released until October 2025, when payments were made. A federal tax lien release certificate from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) shows liens related to tax years 2012-2018 totaling $354,791.63 and were released on October 15, 2025, according to documents obtained by Fox Digital. The second release shows liens related to the 2019 tax year totaling $71,313.11 and was released on October 29, 2025.

However, Anderson’s public financial disclosure report, known as Form OGE 278e, only lists a mortgage in the liabilities section and does not disclose any federal tax liens or IRS liabilities, according to documents obtained by Fox News Digital. OGE Form 278e provides detailed boilerplate and detailed information about Anderson’s assets, past employment, and income.

The Office of Government Ethics’ guidance for OGE Form 278e instructs filers to report liabilities owed in excess of $10,000 at any time during the reporting period.

Anderson signed the OGE form on August 14, 2025, according to documents obtained by Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital discovered that on September 21, 2025, Anderson’s OGE 278e form and a separate ethics document Anderson sent to the State Department’s Office of Legal Counsel were added to the Office of Government Ethics’ system that tracks financial and ethics disclosures.

Fox News Digital contacted the State Department multiple times to ask specifically why Anderson did not disclose the lien on the liability portion of OGE 278e, whether he filed an amended financial disclosure after the initial filing to add any IRS liability or lien, and when the government first received notice of the lien.

Once confirmed, the ICAO Ambassador will work under the leadership of the Secretary of State.

“We support the president’s nominee and look forward to his confirmation,” a State Department spokesperson told Fox Digital on Wednesday about Anderson.

A review of other nominees listed in the OGE Disclosure Database revealed that individuals modified their ethics disclosures during the review process. Anderson’s filing does not reflect any public revisions to his original disclosure.

Public financial disclosure is a core part of the nomination review process. Federal ethics rules and guidance generally require nominees to disclose major outstanding liabilities during the reporting period.

Senate-confirmed nominees for ambassadorships typically go through a multi-step White House process that includes FBI background checks and federal ethics reviews of financial disclosures, with the State Department helping to prepare and process nomination packages before they are formally sent to the Senate.

On September 30, 2025, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Graham Hughes/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

“Everybody has setbacks. That’s not the problem,” a former Trump official told Fox Digital on the matter. “The problem was lying to Congress and misleading President Trump. Jeffrey Anderson filed more than $426,000 in claims against the IRS, held federal tax liens for years, and then attempted to circumvent Senate confirmation by hiding those liens through sworn disclosures. Federal tax liens are not optional, and they do not magically disappear.”

The former official added that most “Americans are not going to just cough up $500,000 to make the scandal go away,” while also arguing that the nomination would collapse on its own due to “Anderson’s record of donating to anti-Trump politicians.”

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ICAO’s role has been vacant for years

Anderson was dormant for years before he was nominated to the position. The position was last held by former ambassador and famed aviator Chesley “Sally” Sullenberger, who will step down in 2022.

In 2009, Sullenberger won widespread acclaim for landing US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River, saving 155 passengers after a bird strike disabled both engines. The incident was dubbed the “Miracle on the Hudson.”

Anderson’s nomination, which has been delayed since July 2025, was returned to the president on January 3, 2026 under Senate Rule XXXI, a technical rule, days after Trump resubmitted Anderson’s nomination to the Senate.

Anderson’s nomination was opposed by the Airline Pilots Association, a alliance The group represents nearly 80,000 pilots in the United States and Canada and claims his “only” qualification is supporting efforts to raise the mandatory retirement age for pilots.

The organization said in a statement that it opposed raising the mandatory retirement age from 65 to 67, arguing that it would “make the United States an outlier in global aviation and cause disruption to the pilot workforce and international and domestic flight operations.” Read in July 2025.

International aviation rules prohibit airline pilots over the age of 65 from flying. Some global airline groups have called on ICAO to consider raising the retirement age for international pilots to 67, arguing staffing pressures and retaining experienced pilots will only enhance airline safety.

Anderson also has close financial ties to Democrats and other politicians who are often hostile to Trump and his policies, Fox News Digital previously reported.

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“Jeffrey Anderson is not a Trump Republican at all; he is a liberal lurker who slipped through the cracks of the PPO (Presidential Personnel Office),” a former Trump official told Fox Digital in August 2025 about Anderson’s political donation and tax history.

Former Delta Air Lines pilot Jeff Anderson was nominated in July to serve as U.S. ambassador to the International Civil Aviation Organization. (iStock)

Anderson has donated a handful of small dollars to Republicans Nikki Haley The former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations ran against Trump during the 2024 election cycle, slamming him as “unhinged” during the campaign before dropping out and endorsing Trump as the Republican presidential nominee.

The former pilot also donated to former Democratic opponents seeking to unseat then-Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in the 2024 election, according to donation documents previously reported by Fox News Digital. Anderson’s political contributions to Democrats date back years, including 2017 donations to Democrats such as former House candidate Dan Ward of Virginia and former Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon.

Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, chairs the committee housing transportation The Aviation Infrastructure Subcommittee told Fox Digital in August 2025 that if confirmed, Anderson would help usher in a “golden age of aviation.”

“Mr. Anderson served as a Navy pilot and had more than thirty years of pilot experience with Delta Air Lines,” Niles said in August. “There is no question that he is qualified to represent the United States of America at ICAO, and his first-hand experience in the aviation industry will play a vital role in advancing President Trump’s mission to usher in a golden age of aviation.”

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President Donald Trump has nominated Jeff Anderson to serve as U.S. ambassador to the office. (Graham Hughes/AFP/Getty Images)

“I fully support President Trump and his America First agenda. I have been fully vetted by President Trump. White House Thank you to the President, House Aviation Chairman Troy Nehls, and House T&I Chairman Sam Graves, among others, for their approval. I look forward to advancing U.S. interests as the next ICAO Permanent Representative,” Anderson wrote in a direct message to Fox Digital on LinkedIn in August 2025, while adding that Trump was looking to “advanced effectively in the empty space left by Biden’s oversight.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on the disclosure timeline but did not receive a response.

Fox New Digital reached out to Anderson for comment on the timeline for the tax lien and ethics filing but did not receive a response.