A manager in the Internal Revenue Service who calls himself a conservative Republican told congressional investigators that he and a colleague at the Cincinnati office started the probe into Tea Party groups seeking tax-exempt status without any involvement from Washington, according to Reuters.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released an interview transcript on Sunday that said the IRS manager and a coworker decided to target groups with the words "Tea Party" and "patriot" in them because granting the organizations tax-exempt status would affect future IRS filings, according to Reuters.
"He is a conservative Republican working for the IRS," Cummings told CNN. "I think this interview and these statements go a long way toward showing that the White House was not involved in this. Based upon everything I've seen, the case is solved. And if it were me, I would wrap this case up and move on."
The testimony in these transcripts contradicts the testimony of IRS agent Elizabeth Hofacre that was released last week. Hofacre told congressional investigators that an IRS attorney based in Washington, Carter Hull, was highly involved in the probing of the conservative groups.
"I was essentially a front person, because I had no autonomy or no authority to act on [applications] without Carter Hull's influence or input," Hofacre said, according to the transcripts.
The chairman of the Oversight Committee, Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said in a statement that the comments by the unnamed IRS manager, "did not provide anything enlightening or contradict other witness accounts."
Issa has asserted throughout the investigation that the White House was at the root of the scandal and using the IRS as a tool for political gain. Issa does not plan on wrapping up the investigation in the near future.
"The American public wants to know why targeting occurred and who was involved," a statement released by Issa said. "The only thing Ranking Member Cummings left clear in his comments today is that if it were up to him the investigation would be closed."
Throughout the scandal both Cummings and Issa have been releasing portions of the interview transcripts although neither representative has released a full transcript. The excerpts that have been released tend to be of IRS employees impressions of what was happening and not of any definitive proof, according to the Associated Press.
