Obama: No Special Counsel Necessary for IRS Scandal - East Idaho News
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Obama: No Special Counsel Necessary for IRS Scandal

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Getty 051613 IRSBldgDC?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1368735328401Mark Wilson/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — President Obama on Thursday said that no special counsel is needed to get to the bottom of the scandal involving the Internal Revenue Services’ targeting of conservative groups.

“My main concern is fixing a problem and we began that process yesterday by asking and accepting the resignation of the acting director there. We will be putting in new leadership that will be able to make sure that — following up on the [inspector general’s] audit — that we’re gathering up all the facts, that we hold accountable those who had taken these unacceptable actions,” Obama said during a drizzly Rose Garden press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“I think that it’s going to be sufficient for us to be working with Congress. They’ve got a whole bunch of committees; we’ve got IGs already there,” he added.

Obama said that the inspector general has recommended an investigation after releasing its own report on the agency’s actions this week. And Attorney General Eric Holder has launched a Federal Bureau of Investigations inquiry into whether any criminal laws were broken at the IRS.

“Between those investigations I think we’re going to be a able to figure out exactly what happened, who was involved, what went wrong and we’re going to be able to implement steps to fix it,” he continued. Obama reiterated that no one in his administration told him about the inspector general’s IRS investigation before he read about it in media reports.

“I can assure you that I certainly did not know anything about the IG report before the IG report had been leaked to the press,” Obama said. “I promise you this: that the minute I found out about it, my main focus has been making sure that we get the thing fixed.”

On Wednesday, Obama announced that his Treasury Secretary had requested and accepted the resignation of the acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller. Miller, however, would not have been allowed to continue as acting commissioner in less than a month, unless he was re-appointed as the interim commissioner or Obama nominated someone permanently to the post.

Obama said on Thursday that a new acting commissioner would be appointed to replace Miller.

Miller is scheduled to appear before the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday morning to testify on the scandal.

The 25-year IRS veteran, who also serves as the Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement, is responsible for overseeing the unit that unduly singled out conservative groups with names like “tea party” or “patriot” for more than two years.

The IRS says that the errors have been fixed, but with the exception of Miller, they have not announced any other disciplinary actions against IRS employees responsible for targeting these groups.

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