The Treasury Department’s inspector general testified at a congressional hearing Friday that he had informed Obama administration officials of an investigation into improper scrutiny of conservative non-profit groups by the Internal Revenue Service during the run-up to the 2012 election.
J. Russell George told Treasury’s general counsel of the investigation on June 4, and Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin — then-Sec. Timothy Geithner’s No. 2 — “shortly thereafter,” according to the New York Times.
George did not, however, inform them of his conclusions that the targeting had been improper as the investigation was still ongoing. The official findings, which were released Tuesday, state that ineffective management allowed the practice to go on for more than 18 months but was ultimately stopped in May 2012.
President Barack Obama said Thursday that he had no knowledge about the inspector general’s report before it was leaked to the press this week. White House press secretary Jay Carney also maintained that no one in the administration was aware of the report.
“I can tell you that I am not aware of anyone here knowing about it,” he said at a news briefing on Tuesday.
The acting IRS commissioner, Steven Miller, who was asked to step down this week, said that he “would be shocked” if the targeting of conservative groups was divulged to Obama administration officials outside of the IRS, adding that it “would be violation of law.”
During a separate portion of testimony, Miller also revealed that the agency’s admission of inappropriate conduct on Friday was staged by using a planted question during a Q&A at the American Bar Association tax section’s annual meeting in Washington D.C.
Update: Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told Bloomberg on Friday that he was informed of the probe in “mid-March” but was not aware of any details. Lew served as President Obama’s chief of staff in 2012 and succeeded Timothy Geithner at Treasury earlier this year.
“The area of IG investigations is one where once an agency is informed that a matter is opened, the job of the agency is to give the IG access to people and records so that they can do their work,” Lew explained. “It’s not to interfere with the investigation. So typically, you don’t know a lot about an investigation until it’s nearing the end.”
