Tea Party & patriot groups

I’ve seen some very interesting stories that cast some light and, I think, might cause everyone here to reflect upon how this was viewed in the immediate aftermath of the breaking of the story,” he added. “I think more information is better and I think the revelations about the practices have been helpful in providing a fuller understanding of what took place. The president’s interest is in ensuring that the tax laws enforced by the IRS are enforced in a non-partisan way and fairly across the board.”

Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee turned up a 2010 IRS PowerPoint presentation that said both "progressive" groups and "tea party" organizations deserved extra scrutiny when applying for tax-exempt status. The finding contradicted Russell's argument that conservative groups received more intense vetting, argued Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.), the ranking member on the committee.

Meanwhile, Cummings' staffers conducted interviews with six self-identified Republican or conservative IRS officials, all of whom dismissed the idea that the agency was operating with a political agenda. Cummings told HuffPost that he had requested more documents from the IRS to help clarify the issue further but that TIGTA had blocked their release, citing the need to comply with privacy laws.

"[Danny] Werfel's people, the head of the IRS, are saying, 'Look, we've got these other documents that we want to present to you.' Then they say 'we cannot present them,'" Cummings said. "And when the question was asked, 'Well why can't you present them?' we learned that it was the IG that was blocking them. That's very, very unusual."

A source close to the IRS investigations said that TIGTA is blocking the release of the description of progressive groups contained in the powerpoint presentation, among other pieces of information. The office's spokesperson did not return a request for comment.