White House Says It Didn’t Loop Obama In on I.R.S. Inquiry [View all]

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Source: new york times

White House officials were first notified on April 16 about an investigation into Internal Revenue Service scrutiny of conservative groups and discussed its potential findings with the Treasury Department but never told President Obama, the White House said Monday.

The I.R.S. inspector general informed the White House counsel’s office about the agency’s nearly finished audit along with other reviews nearly a month before its release, the White House said. Kathryn Ruemmler, the White House counsel, was personally told on April 24, and she notified the White House chief of staff, Denis McDonough, and other senior aides without informing the president, the White House said.

“She made the decision or the judgment that it was not necessary or appropriate to inform the president of this, and that didn’t happen,” said Jay Carney, the White House press secretary. “And most importantly, no action was taken by anyone in this building to intervene.”

He added that the president would not have acted even if he had known. “Obviously, that would be wholly inappropriate,” Mr. Carney said.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/us/politics/white-house-says-obama-was-kept-out-of-loop-on-irs-inquiry.html