Rep. Elijah Cummings (D., Md.) and Hardball host Chris Matthews again tried to dismiss the IRS targeting scandal Monday, with Matthews saying this was "just a couple people, or one guy even, trying to find a way to get his job done quicker" and "that's the entire story." Cummings agreed.
MATTHEWS: If you had to write a time capsule statement of what you know now as ranking member on that committee, the top Democrat, it seems to me if you put together the raw information in the IG report that started all this rigor morale, and you put together the evidence you got from the transcript portion at least that says this was all self-energized, self-created situation, nothing is here. No party politics. No clever stuff. No hanky-panky, if you will, politically. It's just a couple of people, or one guy even, trying to find a way to get his job done quicker, to get it done more effectively, and that's the entire story.
CUMMINGS: That is the entire story, Chris, and again, that's why I'm hoping that the Chairman will release these transcripts. That is the story. By the way, we have not gotten any evidence whatsoever out of all the inquiries that we have made of anybody who said that there was a White House connection to any of this.
Suggesting the targeting solely originated with one or two agents in Cincinnati is "the entire story" is belied particularly by the NBC report May 28 that IRS higher-ups, including former Exempt Organizations Director Lois Lerner in Washington, requested more information about conservative groups:
Jay Sekulow, an attorney representing 27 conservative political advocacy organizations that applied to the Internal Revenue Service for tax-exempt status, provided some of the letters to NBC News. He said the groups’ contacts with the IRS prove that the practices went beyond a few "front line" employees in the Cincinnati office, as the IRS has maintained.
"We've dealt with 15 agents, including tax law specialists -- that's lawyers -- from four different offices, including (the) Treasury (Department) in Washington, D.C.," Sekulow said. "So the idea that this is a couple of rogue agents in Cincinnati is not correct."
Cummings' assertions follow demands that all transcripts of interviews between the House Oversight Committee and IRS employees should be released. Cummings says the full transcripts show the White House was not involved in improper targeting of conservative organizations seeking tax-exempt status, and prove the case should be closed.
Those remarks drew a swift rebuke from committee chair Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.), according to The Washington Times:
"I strongly disagree with Ranking Member Cummings‘ assertion that we know everything we need to know about inappropriate targeting of Tea Party groups by the IRS and the case is, in his word, ‘solved,’" Issa said in a statement released to the press. "His extreme and reckless assertions are a signal that his true motivation is stopping needed Congressional oversight and he has no genuine interest in working, on a bipartisan basis, to expose the full truth.
Cummings has a history of trying to quickly dismiss government scandals under the Obama administration. On May 8, after the testimony of Benghazi whistleblowers that shed new light on State Department actions before, during, and after the attack, Cummings claimed to have already heard 99.99 percent of the testimony—before admitting to Matthews that several facts revealed that day were new to him.