In his attempt to downplay the IRS scandal during his soft-ball interview with Chris Matthews, Thursday, the President of the United States subverted the ongoing DOJ investigation of the scandal.

Obama declared that the IRS office in Cincinnati was merely trying to “streamline the system” for “bureaucratic reasons” and that agents weren’t intentionally singling out “Tea Party folks.”

Via White House Dossier:

“If on the other hand, you’ve got an office in Cincinnati in the IRS office that I think for bureaucratic reasons is trying to streamline what a difficult law to interpret about whether non-profit is actually a political organization deserves a tax exempt agency , and they’ve got a list, suddenly everybody’s outraged,” the president said.

He went on to note that “some so-called progressives” were also initially outraged by what he wants us to believe turned out to be a phony scandal.

By the way, Chris, I’ll point out that there are some called progressives perceived to be liberal commentators who during that week were just outraged at the possibility that these folks had been at the direction of the Democratic Party in some way discriminated against tea party folks. That is what gets news, what gets attention.

As WHD’s Keith Koffler reminds us, the Justice Department is supposed to be investigating whether crimes were committed by IRS officials in this affair.

Pretend you’re a career DOJ investigator who is trying to take the probe seriously, and you’re attemptng to find out if there was criminal behavior as IRS agents zeroed in on the tax status of groups opposed to the reelection of the president of the United States.
Well, the boss just gave you your answer. So please, do stand down.

More than half a year has passed since the IRS targeting scandal broke in May, and federal investigators still haven’t contacted any of the 41 conservative groups represented in the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) lawsuit against the IRS.

The Daily Caller reported on November 25:

Though the FBI and IRS both launched investigations into the wrongdoing, and Eric Holder’s Justice Department vowed to cooperate with the FBI probe, none of these agencies has contacted the ACLJ’s clients to figure out what happened.
ACLJ chief counsel Jay Sekulow told The Daily Caller, “It’s now been more than six months since the public revelation of the IRS targeting scheme. The Obama Administration — including the White House — has repeatedly promised that an investigation would ensue and that we would get to the bottom of this unlawful and unconstitutional scheme. Unfortunately, that does not appear to be happening. To date, not one of our 41 clients has been contacted by the FBI, the Justice Department or any other federal investigative agency.” 

As far as the president is concerned, the case is closed.