Republican House IRS Investigation Finds No Connection To White House

Congressman Darrell Issa, who led IRS investigation which showed no connection to White House

A House Republican investigation looking into possible IRS violations released right before the Christmas holiday reveals no link to the White House in the tax-exempt status scandal.

The report says conservative groups were given improper scrutiny for more than two years from 2010 to 2012. It says senior IRS officials covered up the misconduct and misled Congress about it.

The report specifically faults eight senior IRS leaders who “were in a position to prevent or to stop the IRS’s targeting of conservative applicants.”

The eight include former Commissioner Douglas Shulman, former acting Commissioner Steven Miller, and Lois Lerner, who used to head the division that processes applications for tax-exempt status.

But so far, investigators have not released any documents showing that anyone outside the IRS directed the agency to mistreat conservative groups or even knew it was going on.

It's common in politics to release news right before the holidays or late on Friday afternoons as most people aren't paying close attention to the news cycle. Clearly, Issa doesn't want a wide audience to know his investigation clears the White House of any wrongdoing.