Elijah Cummings releases full transcript of IRS interview, leaves Darrell Issa looking like a punk

[marmar]

WASHINGTON -- In a rebuke to House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) has released the full transcript of a key interview with an IRS employee at the heart of the agency's scandal.

The 200-page transcript sheds additional light on the decision by the IRS to screen out tea party groups applying for tax-exempt status during the months and years leading up to the 2012 elections.

Republican and Democratic committee staffers interviewed IRS official John Shafer on June 6 about the agency's decision to scrutinize a tea party group's application for tax-exempt 501(c)(4) status. Shafer, who identified himself as "a conservative Republican" and said he'd worked for the IRS since 1992, said that he and a fellow screener initially flagged a tea party group and continued to do so with subsequent applications in order to maintain consistency in the process.

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The information, some of which Cummings previewed two weeks ago, seems to contradict proclamations made by Issa, who previously said the White House had ordered political targeting of tea party groups but has not released full transcripts supporting the claim. ....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/18/irs-scandal-washington_n_3460904.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009