Obama aides knew of tax probe; president not told

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House chief of staff and other senior presidential advisers knew in late April that an upcoming report was likely to find that employees of the U.S. tax agency had inappropriately targeted conservative political groups — but they didn't tell President Barack Obama.

The White House on Monday said advisers left Obama to learn the results from news reports. The White House defended that decision, with press secretary Jay Carney saying Obama was comfortable with the fact that "some matters are not appropriate to convey to him, and this is one of them."

The decision to keep the president in the dark about the Treasury Department report underscores the White House's cautious legal approach to controversies, as well as an apparent desire by top advisers to distance him from troubles threatening his administration.

"It is absolutely a cardinal rule, as we see it, that we do not intervene in ongoing investigations," said Carney.

Opposition Republicans have seized on the audit by a Treasury Department inspector general, which found that Internal Revenue Service employees singled out groups with names like "tea party" and "patriots" for special scrutiny that delayed their applications for tax exempt status — including during last year's presidential election.

Key words such as "tea party" and "patriots" are often used by conservative groups critical of Obama and his fellow Democrats.

Republicans are using the news to criticize Obama ahead of next year's elections for Congress. The controversy also has reignited the small-government tea party movement, whose influence in last year's election had waned compared to its muscular role in 2010.

Monday's disclosure expanded the known circle of top officials who were aware of the Treasury Department report beyond those identified earlier by the White House.

Carney said the White House counsel, Kathryn Ruemmler, was first informed about the report on April 24, and she notified senior staff, including White House chief of staff Denis McDonough.

Carney said no one in the White House intervened in the audit. He also noted that the practice by the IRS workers ended in May 2012.

Republicans, however, are accusing Obama of being unaware of important happenings in the government he oversees.

"It seems to be the answer of the administration whenever they're caught doing something they shouldn't be doing is, 'I didn't know about it'," Republican Sen. John Cornyn told CBS News. "And it causes me to wonder whether they believe willful ignorance is a defense when it's your job to know."

Obama advisers argue that the outcry from Republicans would be far worse had top advisers told the president about the IRS audit before it became public, thereby raising questions about White House interference.

A White House peeking into an ongoing investigation can trigger a political uproar. A well-known case involved President Richard Nixon trying to hinder the FBI's probe of the Watergate break-in at Democratic Party national headquarters in the early 1970s.

In the current IRS matter, two congressional committees this week plan to question IRS and Treasury officials The IRS matter is one of three controversies that have consumed the White House over the past week. In each instance, officials have tried to put distance between the president and questionable actions by people within his administration.

As with the IRS investigation, the White House says Obama learned only from news reporters that the Justice Department had subpoenaed phone records from journalists at The Associated Press as part of a leaks investigation. And faced with new questions about the deadly attacks in Benghazi, Libya, Obama's advisers have pinned responsibility on the CIA for crafting talking points that downplayed the potential of terrorism, despite the fact that the White House was a part of the process.

Former White House officials say a president has little choice but to distance himself from investigations and then endure accusations of being out of touch, or worse.

"It's a tough balance," said Sara Taylor Fagen, who was White House political director for President George W. Bush from 2005 to 2007.

"With a scandal, there's no way to win," said Fagen, whom the Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenaed and sharply questioned in a probe of dismissed U.S. attorneys. "There may never have been any wrongdoing by anyone in the White House, on any of these issues," she said, "but once the allegations are made, you can't win."

A White House peeking into an ongoing investigations can trigger a political uproar. A well-known case involved President Richard Nixon trying to hinder the FBI's probe of the Watergate break-in.