Rep. Tom Graves (R., Ga.) asked acting Commissioner of the IRS Daniel Werfel and Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George if anyone in the IRS has been questioned as to where the directive to target conservative organizations originated Monday in the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services & Government hearing.
George responded the question was posed to IRS employees in the Cincinnati office during the Inspector General audit, yet no employee would acknowledge where the order came from:
TOM GRAVES: [...] Have either of you asked the individuals in Cincinnati who ordered this? Who ordered them to use this extra scrutiny to punish or penalize or postpone or deny? Has that question been asked of any employee?
J. RUSSELL GEORGE: Yeah. During our audit, Congressman, we did pose that question, and no one would acknowledge who, if anyone, provided that direction.
TOM GRAVES: So, no one would acknowledge who gave the directive to do this?
J. RUSSELL GEORGE: That's correct. During the audit phase of this.
