Today, following a sharp exchange with Acting IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa issued a subpoena to Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew demanding more documents.
The California Republican accused the IRS of dragging its feet in response to committee requests for documents related to the panel’s investigation into the targeting of Tea Party and other conservative groups for special scrutiny — a charge Werfel denied.
During an Oversight subcommittee hearing, an agitated Issa said the IRS is “slow-rolling us.”
But Issa persisted, telling Werfel he was now going over his head and asking Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to respond to his requests.“I’ve asked you for information; you’re not forthcoming,” Issa told Werfel. “The office of chief counsel, a politically appointed office, has been compromised.”
From the Oversight and Reform press release:
“During the past two weeks, President Obama and you have repeatedly labeled the IRS’s strategy of targeting Americans for their political beliefs as a ‘phony’ scandal. While the Obama Administration has so publicly deflected responsibility for the targeting, it simultaneously has attempted to thwart congressional oversight into the matter… the IRS has engaged in a systematic effort to delay, frustrate, impede, and obstruct the Committee’s investigation,” Issa writes in a letter to Lew accompanying the subpoena.
Issa’s cover letter to the Treasury Secretary is here: