◼ Why did the IRS keep the scandal quiet until after the election? Update: Treasury Dep’t knew last yea - Allahpundit/HotAir
◼ In no uncertain terms and with no hedging, The New York Times reports that the Obama administration was aware of the fact that the IRS was targeting Tea Party groups as far back as June of 2012. - John Nolte/Breitbart
The Treasury Department's Inspector General confirmed that he told senior Treasury officials in June of 2012, a full five months before Election Day...
We still don’t know for sure what the President knew or when he knew it, but this does confirm that the administration was aware of the fact that Obama's political enemies were under fire by the IRS and covered that fact up during an election year.
As Lisa Meyers of NBC News told "Morning Joe" today, "Imagine if we -- if you can -- what would have happened if this fact came out in September 2012, in the middle of a presidential election? The terrain would have looked very different."
The first time President Obama was asked when he found out about the IRS scandal, he told the media that he learned of the news last Friday, the same way the rest of us did -- from the news media.
Thursday, a Bloomberg reporter asked the President when he or anyone else in the White House learned of the scandal. The President dodged the question.
◼ Treasury Officials Knew of IRS Probe Last June - SIOBHAN HUGHES and DAMIAN PALETTA/Wall Street Journal
The revelation, one of the few new details to come from a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on the IRS controversy, suggests administration officials may have known about the practice earlier than was previously disclosed. The inspector general's investigation had only begun in March 2012, so the review would have been at an early stage.
◼ Treasury Knew of I.R.S. Inquiry in 2012, Official Says - JONATHAN WEISMAN/New York Times
◼ Obama Fails to Deny White House Knew About IRS Targeting - Katie Pavlich/Townhall
◼ TREASURY SEC JACK LEW: I KNEW ABOUT IRS SCANDAL LAST WEEK--AND ALSO LAST FALL - Wynton Hall/Breitbart
...Bloomberg's Al Hunt asked Lew, whose Treasury Department oversees the IRS: “When were you first notified that IRS agents were targeting conservative groups like the Tea Party?”
Instead of answering Hunt’s question directly, however, Lew instead chose to answer when he first learned about the IG report, a tactic President Barack Obama also used earlier this week during a press conference.
“I learned the substance of this report last Friday when it became a matter of public knowledge,” Lew claimed....
Hunt then asked whether former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Lew’s deputy, Neal Wolin, or the general counsel knew about the IRS’s political profiling of conservative groups.
“I think that there was-the heads-up that I got was something that was a matter of public knowledge,” said Lew. “It was posted on the IG's website in the fall of 2012. I believe that other is typically the practice that an inspector general notify the agencies when matters are opened. I was not aware of any details.”
It is possible that "fall of 2012" could refer to a period of time before the election. Regardless, Lew would have discovered the investigation in his capacity as President Obama's chief of staff, meaning that it is possible the president knew of the investigation in 2012 as well.
This is not the first time Lew has provided confusing or less-than-candid answers.
Leading the network evening newscasts: CBS/ABC: new IRS developments; NBC: threat of more severe weather.
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) May 17, 2013
