Congressional lawmakers positioning themselves for a 2028 White House run are stalling on their mandatory annual financial disclosures—because while the IRS audits your every dime, the swamp protects its own.

The New York Post reported that a bipartisan roster of rising stars in Congress has filed for extensions or simply delayed their required financial disclosures, keeping voters in the dark about their wealth, trades, and potential conflicts of interest until it's politically convenient.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), the Silicon Valley congressman who bills himself as a man of the people, sits on a net worth of up to $232 million and is the most active Democratic trader in the House, according to past filings. Khanna has said he's considering a 2028 run. Then there's Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who regularly pleads poverty in fundraising pitches but has delayed her disclosure every single year since 2020. Her last filing showed a negative net worth of $33,000 to $66,000—but she has yet to marry her longtime fiancé, Riley Roberts, meaning his assets stay off the books entirely.

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), who rails against billionaire wealth from the pulpit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Ebenezer Baptist Church, has doubled his own net worth to $2.2 million since taking office, parlaying lucrative book deals into a $1.15 million Washington, DC pad. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), another potential contender, filed for a three-month extension; the former astronaut banks millions in speaking fees and sits on an estimated $20 million net worth.

The GOP isn't clean either. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), worth an estimated $12 million, has a wife who is a Goldman Sachs executive—about as swamp-adjacent as it gets. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) disclosed a $6 million net worth last cycle. Both are among the late filers.

Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, told the Post there's a political benefit to holding off: "They don't want to have an Ilhan Omar problem," he said, referencing the Minnesota Democrat whose disclosure claims of financial gains worth millions triggered multiple probes.

The pattern is clear—on both sides of the aisle. These are the people who write the laws, regulate the industries, and control the purse strings, yet they treat transparency as an inconvenience to be managed rather than a constitutional obligation to their employers: the American people.

The question isn't why they're stalling. The question is why there are no consequences when they do.