Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Steven Miller reportedly now claims the IRS has identified two “rogue” employees who were “overly aggressive” and went “off the reservation” in targeting nearly 500 conservative organizations.
According to CNN, Miller says the IRS agents have already been disciplined.
On Tuesday, Miller wrote in a USA Today op-ed that “Mistakes were made, but they were in no way due to any political or partisan motivation.”
If the two “rogue” employees were not motivated by partisanship or politics, it is unclear, then, what led them to go “off the reservation” and orchestrate the targeting of hundreds of conservative organizations. Miller also says the problems surrounding the targeting of tea party groups and others were not solely the work of the two “rogue” employees.
Miller’s claims come on the heels of a yesterday’s Inspector General report that concluded no IRS employees acted out of political motivation.
It is presently unclear what kind of discipline the IRS administered to its two “rogue” employees. However, according to the IRS’s own official manual, individuals found to have engaged in the “unauthorized disclosure of a return or return information” may be subject to felony charges punishable by a fine up to $5,000 and five years in prison.