White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement Monday that President Barack Obama is “concerned” that a “small number of Internal Revenue Service employees may have” inappropriately singled out conservative groups for further review during the 2012 election and that he expects “appropriate steps” will be taken should an independent review find that rules were broken.
“The President believes that the American people expect and deserve to have the very best public servants with the highest levels of integrity working in government agencies on their behalf,” he said. “Based on recent media reports, he is concerned that the conduct of a small number of Internal Revenue Service employees may have fallen short of that standard. We understand that the matter is currently under review by the Inspector General. If the Inspector General finds that there were any rules broken or that conduct of government officials did not meet the standards required of them, the President expects that swift and appropriate steps will be taken to address any misconduct.”
