The latest revelation in the IRS debacle is stunning. From Politico:
The White House on Monday once again added to the list of people who
knew about the IRS investigation into its targeting of conservative
groups — saying White House chief of staff Denis McDonough had been
informed about a month ago.
Press secretary Jay Carney said again
that no one had told President Barack Obama ahead of the first news
reports: not his top aide McDonough, nor his chief counsel Kathy
Ruemmler, nor anyone from the Treasury Department.
I understand their desire to avoid even the appearance of interfering with an ongoing internal investigation, so not alerting the President before hand is a justifiable strategy. What is inexplicable is that the President was sent out after the story appeared in the press to express his disappointment and anger without any staffer mentioning to him that, by the way, we knew about that. So now, a week later, we find out that his chief of staff was keeping him out of the loop.
Of course, maybe Obama was just playing dumb and had been told immediately that his staff had been shelterering him for several weeks. At the press conference with Turkey PM Erdogan last Thursday Obama was queried specifically on the timing and ducked it:
Q Unfortunately, we all forgot umbrellas. Mr. President, I want
to ask you about the IRS. Can you assure the American people that
nobody in the White House knew about the agency’s actions before your
Counsel’s Office found out on April 22nd? And when they did find out,
do you think that you should have learned about it before you learned
about it from news reports as you said last Friday? And also, are you
opposed to there being a special council appointed to lead the Justice
Department investigation?
And also, Mr. Prime Minister, what is the status on efforts to
normalize relations with Israel? And do you still plan to go to Gaza in
the coming weeks? Thanks.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, with respect to the IRS, I spoke to this
yesterday. My main concern is fixing a problem, and we began that
process yesterday by asking and accepting the resignation of the Acting
Director there. We will be putting in new leadership that will be able
to make sure that -- following up on the IG audit -- that we gather up
all the facts, that we hold accountable those who have taken these
outrageous actions. As I said last night, it is just simply
unacceptable for there to even be a hint of partisanship or ideology
when it comes to the application of our tax laws.
I am going to go ahead and ask folks -- why don't we get a couple of
Marines, they're going to look good next to us -- (laughter) -- just
because I've got a change of suits -- (laughter) -- but I don't know
about our Prime Minister. There we go. That's good. You guys I'm
sorry about. (Laughter.)
But let me make sure that I answer your specific question. I can
assure you that I certainly did not know anything about the IG report
before the IG report had been leaked through the press. Typically, the
IG reports are not supposed to be widely distributed or shared. They
tend to be a process that everybody is trying to protect the integrity
of. But what I'm absolutely certain of is that the actions that were
described in that IG report are unacceptable.
So in addition to making sure that we've got a new acting director
there, we're also going to make sure that we gather up the facts, and
hold accountable and responsible anybody who was involved in this.
We're going to make sure that we identify any structural or management
issues to prevent something like this from happening again. We're going
to make sure that we are accepting all of the recommendations that the
IG has in the report.
And I'm looking forward to working with Congress to fully investigate
what happened, make sure that it doesn’t happen again, and also look at
some of the laws that create a bunch of ambiguity in which the IRS may
not have enough guidance and not be clear about what exactly they need
to be doing and doing it right, so that the American people have
confidence that the tax laws are being applied fairly and evenly.
So in terms of the White House and reporting, I think that you've
gotten that information from Mr. Carney and others. I promise you this
-- that the minute I found out about it, then my main focus is making
sure we get the thing fixed. I think that it's going to be sufficient
for us to be working with Congress. They've got a whole bunch of
committees. We've got IGs already there.
The IG has done an audit; it's now my understanding they're going to
be recommending an investigation. And Attorney General Holder also
announced a criminal investigation of what happened. Between those
investigations, I think we’re going to be able to figure out exactly
what happened, who was involved, what went wrong, and we’re going to be
able to implement steps to fix it.
And that, ultimately, is the main priority that I have, but also I
think the American people have. They understand that we’ve got an
agency that has enormous potential power and is involved in everybody’s
lives. And that’s part of the reason why it’s been treated as a
quasi-independent institution. But that’s also why we’ve got to make
sure that it is doing its job scrupulously and without even a hint of
bias, or a hint that somehow they’re favoring one group over another.
And, as I said yesterday, I’m outraged by this in part because, look,
I’m a public figure -- if a future administration is starting to use
the tax laws to favor one party over another or one political view over
another, obviously we’re all vulnerable. And that’s why, as I’ve said,
it doesn’t matter whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, you should
be equally outraged at even the prospect that the IRS might not be
acting with the kind of complete neutrality that we expect.
And I think we’re going to be able to fix it. We’re going to be able
to get it done, and we’ve already begun that progress and we’re going
to keep on going until it’s finished.
More grist for John Stewart's mill.
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