Attorney General orders probe into US tax agency’s targeting of conservative groups

WASHINGTON – Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday he has ordered a Justice Department investigation into the U.S. tax agency’s targeting of conservative groups for extra tax scrutiny.

The announcement at a news conference takes the matter beyond the numerous congressional committees already investigating the Internal Revenue Service for singling out conservative tea party and other groups during the 2010 congressional elections and the 2012 presidential elections. Investigators will try to determine if any laws were broken.

Holder called the agency’s practice “outrageous and unacceptable.”

The Obama administration is trying to get out in front of the tax agency controversy, attempting to show it is taking the issue seriously and keeping it from exploding into a bigger scandal. It is already one of several controversies that have put President Barack Obama on the defensive just months into his second term.

The agency has apologized for what it acknowledged was “inappropriate” targeting of conservative political groups to see whether they were violating their tax-exempt status. In some cases, the IRS acknowledged, agents inappropriately asked for lists of donors.

The agency blamed low-level employees in a regional office, saying no high-level officials were aware.

Acting agency chief Steven Miller has emerged as a key figure in the controversy as Republicans focus on Miller’s failure to disclose to Congress that tea party groups had been targeted while reviewing applications for tax-exempt status.

Miller was first informed on May, 3, 2012, that applications for tax-exempt status by tea party groups were inappropriately singled out for extra scrutiny, the IRS said Monday.

At least twice after the briefing, Miller wrote letters to members of Congress to explain the process of reviewing applications for tax-exempt status without disclosing that tea party groups had been targeted. On July 25, 2012, Miller testified before the House of Representatives Ways and Means oversight subcommittee, but again did not mention the additional scrutiny — despite being asked about it.

Republican Sen. Roy Blunt called Tuesday for Miller to step down or for Obama to replace him.

“If the reports are accurate that Steven Miller knew about the IRS’ egregious targeting of conservative groups last year and misled members of Congress about those actions, he should step down or be removed immediately,” Blunt said Tuesday.

While Republicans have blasted the administration for targeting conservative groups, no blame has been laid directly on Obama, who said he first learned about the tax targeting issue from news reports on Friday..

Republicans are trying to link the scandal to the administration’s response to the September attacks in Benghazi, Libya, that killed a U.S. ambassador, for which they have hammered Obama ever since. They say it’s another example of the government abusing its power, and point to emails disclosed Friday that show senior administration officials pushed for references to prior warnings and al-Qaida to be deleted from the talking points used by U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice five days after the attack.

Republicans insist that the Obama administration misled Congress and the American people in the immediate aftermath of the attack, trying to play down an act of terrorism that would reflect poorly on Obama weeks before the 2012 presidential election. Democrats accuse Republicans of trying to exploit a tragedy for political gain.

__

Associated Press writers Stephen Ohlemacher, Jim Abrams and Henry C. Jackson contributed to this report.

___

Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephenatap

Miller’s op-ed, however, did not address why he did not inform Congress after he was briefed.