you know, we know that the treasury department now knew about it.y say it was an investigation, there's nothing we could do. but look, they were having hearings on the hill about this, and a lot of this was being brought to light. to me, if the white house is really concerned about it, it does seem like it's something they could tamp down if they wanted to. >> chris: karl, a couple of questions for you. you were one of the undersros gn crossroads, the super pac. first of all, why should a group like crossroads gps, so deeply involved in politics, qualify for tax exempt status as a social welfare group, and didn't? whether there's a surge or not, didn't the irs have a problem in the wake of the citizens united superior court ruling for qualifying under the tax code? >> look, 501c4s have been around for a long time, and the democrats on the left have used these for years, these social welfare groups to do some politics and a lot of social welfare. naacp voter fund, for example, ran a $10 miion advertising blitz in 2000 against george w. bush. the leag

the treasury department didn't tell anyone in the white house. the treasury department also said that all secretary wolin was performed of was -- informed of was that such an investigation was beginning, and gave the same heads-up to congress, including congressman issa. issa said he didn't talk about it publicly, is when you're dealing with a nonpartisan agency like the irs, you wait until you have the actual facts before you go out and make assertions. >> chris: again, i want to make it clear, you're saying nobody after that meeting between russell george and neal wolin, nobody told the irs that this irs ig investigation was going on? >> that's what the treasury department said and that's what i'm telling you. >> chris: the rise of the tea party, the application for tax exempt group was a big point in the wake of the citizens united ruling by the supreme court, a big issue for democrats. in september of 2010, max baucus, the democrat chair of senate finance called on the irs to investigate groups applying for tax exempt status. in 2007, senator

nancy pelosi. >> not many. , if it does not go to the treasury department, that will probably be contained. the ap story is going to die soon. done forget, this was not by a whistleblower. it was not a whistleblower that went to the ap. it was somebody who was bragging and boasting. it was hubris. this is something obama has to be concerned about. it is his own people. .his happened to his own people >> winners and losers, charles. >> the irs is the only one that has the capacity to be a fatal one. i do not think it will reach obama. the council knew about it three weeks before. he said that. did he tell nobody in the white house? if it reaches the white house it is serious. but it is the one that everybody feels strongly about. if you have a letter from the irs, you know it is not good news. it is not happy birthday. power can be ruthless and arrogant. in terms of the public that is the one. in terms of the press, they are upset about the ap. they have been obsequious but all of a sudden they are very upset. it is their own prerogative and privacy. i think he asked to make his peace with

and the treasury department inspector general mcchrystal said his investigation did find. republicans are astonished, they are concerned the i.r.s. will gather medical information. democrats tried to discount that. >> the i.r.s. can't access your medical files. is that true mr. miller? >> correct, sir. >> they cannot find out your private medical information. >> that's correct, sir. >> their job in obama care is simply to collect paid financial information on which a determination is made as to whether somebody can get a subsidy for their premiums, is that correct? >> with you are covered and over what period is what we would be getting. >> steven miller is the outgoing acting commissioner of the i.r.s. he was asked to leave a day after the inspector general's report was released. the president has named dan

. >> melissa, as you know, the president met with some of his treasury department advisers, regarding the ifrp rs scandal. irs in the tresry want it. if i had to make a wild guess without knowing anything, you will see him take greater actions, the you dig into it. so that's one possibility. >> yeah, ayman, no surprise, a lot of lawmakers out there are call, for heads to rom on this. >> reporter: that's right, mellissa. this administration has been on its heels as far as scandal. we do know what the speaker of the house said should happen. take a listen to john boehner earlier. >> my question isn't about who's going to resign.

that's the treasury department's inspector general for tax policy. they put out this voluminous report. it was leaked to the "wall street journal" and leaked for everybody else to see. the irs is disagreeing in a crucial area, whether the irs chief council was in this meeting august 4th, 2011. because if he was in that meeting as the ig says, the chances to the white house are much greater than if he weren't in that meeting. if he weren't in that meeting, everybody is going to ask, where the heck was he and didn't his subordinates that were there tell him what to do? so this guy is going to be a pivotal guy. >> larry, you are right. but the irs says, the general council of the irs was not there. he did not attend that meeting. we could be having a miscommunication over the term general counsel or counsel oofls. they may be referring to a large office with thousands of lawyers. you mentioned the five names you want to see on capitol hill next week. they are low level figures, in washington, holly paz, liz hoffbaker and joseph herr are the five officia

today admitting misrepresenting the involvement of the white house from the treasury department and thenspector general's release of the irs rert. admittinthat the white house to energize with the treasury department on how to tell the public for abo the targeting of tea party and conservative groups just before the release ofhe i damning report. >> treasury here at the white house. >> i think that has been reported with the deputy chief of staff. >> wt did he doin your estimation? >> again, thisis part of trying to find out when and under what circumsnces this paration would be released and made public. again, we did not know until th actual -- lou: now claiminggthat while these discussions took place, ultimately t decision to plant the question for the head of th neral organization division of the heiress and the woman who reveal the scandalous activity came from outside the white house. you will rember he also claimed eone point that no one but the presidential counci know abouthese -- inspector general's report following so many members of th obama admistration, secretary jack flew

we know that the treasury department now knew about it.y say it was an investigation there is nothing we could do. look, they were having hearings on the hill about this and a lot of this was being brought to light and to me if the white house is really concerned about it does seem like it is something they could tamp down if they wanted to. >> chris: karl i have a couple of questions for you. you were one of the founders of crossroads gps. the superpac. why should a group like crossroads gps which was so deeply involved in politics qualify. in and this is through on the left as well with priorities usa. they had a similar group. why should they qualify for tax exempt status as a social welfare group? a lot of people are asking that and didn't whether there was a surge or not i think there was disagreement about that. didn't the irs have a problem getting a handle on what groups did or didn't qualify under the tax code 501 c4 status? >> 401 c4s have been around for a long time and the democrats on the left have used these to do some politi

the treasury department became aware of this information way back last june. none of that was, there were no discussions between the irs and the treasury as you are aware of? >> let me clarify. i think everybody knew that it was very difficult to administer the (c)(4) law. and so i don't have any memory of it, but there very well could have been conversation about policy, the policy matters that members of this committee have talked about, should the primary purpose test be changed. at least coming for me there were no conversations that i had with the treasury department about this, the matters in the report relating to inappropriate criteria, you know, all those things that were in the news. >> and that was the and i was getting, just to be clear. >> now, mr. shulman come you testified in front of the house in march of last year that there was no targeting. you became aware of that in may. don't you think that you should have an obligation to clarify or to correct that statement? that you made in front of the house committee? >> in the spring when i found out

it cannot be the treasury department or anybody involved in this administration. it can't even be the doj. it's got to be from the outside. >> bret: we will try to get more information on how many questions he'll take with the turkish prime minister tomorrow. >> the over/under is two. >> bret: much more on the other side of the break. we'll go into the ap investigation. what's happening there, and what happened with the attorney general on the hill today. save on boat and motorcycle insurance too. other insurance companies are green with envy. oh, no, no, no...i'm sorry, but this is all wrong? i would never say that. writer: well what would you say? gecko: well i'd probably emphasize the savings. ya know...lose that green with envy bit. rubbish. it's just a reference about my complexion. writer: but the focus groups thought that the... gecko: focus groups. geico doesn't use focus groups. uhh...excuse me. no one told me we were using focus groups. vo: geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. ♪ [ male announcer ] it started lon

so the treasury department very much is electronic.in fact, more so probably than at any time in its history. um, i gather what you're referring to, and i don't know puff about in this to -- enough about this to have a view, if you get an e-mail from the u.s. treasury saying congratulations, you've won a free trip to -- [laughter] have a tour of city of d.c., and if you'll only send us $7,000, your free trip will be -- so i think notes from the treasury department maybe are not part of what the ordinary e-mail experience involves. but the treasury department interactions with them frequently are electronic. >> but i know -- [inaudible] if it's the treasury, ignore -- the treasury does not directly connect with you. >> okay. okay, fine. i just don't know about that. if that's so, that's consistent with the proposition that there's a lot of electronic activity by the treasury. it's just not by e-mail. thank you all. [applause] >> you're watching booktv on c-span2, 48 hours of nonfiction authors and books every weekend. >> and now from ou

i followed the story, we learned about the existence of the inspector general's report, the treasury department on the irs. that had not been released. there was a reference made to it earlie i can understatand the president not knowing about this. he would have been ill-suited to get in the details. the law is clear about the white house separating them from the irirs. >> what goes on in cincinti that thehey felt they had to target the tea party? >> these are the queststions tht demand answers everybody that headed these agencies, they are a presidentialal appointee. eric holder is a vy personal friend of thpresident. the irs commissner, who was asked from the george bush administration was kept there by president obama. the question becomes, who knew anhing about this? was it h hatched in cincinnati where was it at a me when the -- or was it in fact at a time when the tea party w was ascended, a thn in t administration's side. hey, let's get even with them. >> we are in the wonderland of the e 501 c. why not st bag it? >> the rules are confusing. that is the defense the bureaucrat. this is no

"if we, the treasury department, would have been for it it would have happened. but we were not, so it didn't." the opposition of the treasury is an important reason that my colleague, senator brown's amendment did not pass. are you still opposed to capping the size? >> i have tried to indicate that ending too big to fail is in our policy already today. >> at the question is specifically about capping the size of the largest financial institutions. it was the treasury opposition that killed off breaking up the big banks and i want to note the treasury has changed its position. >> as you noted, i was not in the treasury at the time. we are in a path now which of the right path, to implement dodd-frank and take stock when we're done implementing. there are a lot of calls of legislation in this area and i have said things to people who won various kinds of changes. this is not the time to be enacting big changes to dodd- frank or to the regulatory system. >> the question is, secretary lew, we all set back in 2008- 2009, the problems that caused this was concentration

the treasury department last we are. those revelations have many critics calling foul and claiming the information was kept secret during the president's reelection bid. but many veterans of government scandal say it is customary to avoid telling ress of independent investigation until all the facts come out. here are the facts. we now know senior management at the irs knew employees in cincinnati targeted tea party and conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status. the fbi now looking into any criminal behavior. white house top adviser david fiorenza on the sunday -- firefighter on the sunday morning talk shows. >> congressman issa was informed and he didn't say pig. he talked about why. because when you are dealing with a nonpartisan epty like the irs, you want to have an actual independent investigation before you make allegations. the same reason the administration talked about it. the same reason no one in the treasury department talked about it. >> we have for reason to believe at this point it was anybody outside

they were asking the white house and the treasury department back in 2011, two years ago, if this waspening, if conservative groups were being targeted and the, and the treasury department came back and said no. they denied it was happening, melissa. that means they either completely irresponsibly turned a blind eye what was going on at the irs or else they knew about it and wanted to cover it up. i think, by the way, melissa, why this scandal i think is not going away anytime soon. the house ways and moons committee announced yesterday that they're going to hold hearings on this. and you know, boy, right in the wake of benghazi, this is has been a pretty bad week for the white house. melissa: absolutely. steve moore, thanks so much for coming on. >> thank you, melissa. get a million dollars. you deserve it. melissa: i will work on it. i will have you talk to my agent. lori: interesting theme, snooping, big brother is watching. with this story and the irs story. melissa: we're not paranoid. everyone is actually snooping. that is the bottom line. >> thank you. crazy day today. >>> it h

i asked if there were conversations about the treasury department and treasury-secretary knew this ofu have to wonder about how the political schedule impacted this coming out. white house did know april 24th, at least that is what we're told the general counsel was informed about this and conveyed to the chief of staff. this wasn't announced until may 10 tha at aba con convention by lois lerner. that is why i think we need to have more hearings and more opportunities to get the facts out in front of the american people. >> sean: let me go back to stable condition, and dan pfeiffer was on all these programs. he said the law is irrelevant. >> let me ask all of you because there was statement made over the weekend by somebody from the white house the law would be irrelevant. do you believe that the law is irrelevant or is relevant to this? >> i believe the law is also relevant, sir. >> there was a statement made over the weekend whether the laws were broken. i'm just asking that the laws are relevant in this case? >> i guess i would agree with the inspector general people should not bre

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he met at 4:45 this afternoon with the treasury department officials. he is to address us around the irs situation and he will be speaking any moment. chris matthews, as we wait for the president, the question i think that every one around the country is going to ask after this is, all right, the president is going to lay out a course no matter what he says. the republicans clearly will not accept it. i can predict that now. what will get us past this whole back and forward so we can move on with the issues that this senate and congressional term ought to be dealing with? >> well, the one thing the president has to do, and i don't know if it is even doable, to restore some sense that the irs that takes big chunk of your income does it legally and fairly and tries to do it progressively is basically a good institution. paying taxes is always ownerus. they know somebody has to pay for the military. somebody has to pay for the cost of government. we want a good government. we want it to work and be strong. so it has to be paid for. they have to believe lik

i want to start by thanking the talented public servants at the department of treasury. ar thoughtful, dedicated, focused, tear goal is to further the mission of the department and the american people. it's really my honor to work with them. and i'd like to begin with an overview on the economy and then get into the treasury budget. our economy is much stronger today than it was four years ago, but we still need policies that will help create jobs is and accelerate growth. since 2009 the economy's expanded for 15 consecutive quarters, private employers have added 6.8 million jobs, and the housing market has improved. consumer spending, business investment are solid, and exports have expanded. but very tough challenges remain. families across the country are still struggling. unemployment remains high, economic growth needs to be faster, and while we've made progress, we need to do more to put our fiscal house in order. at the same time, political gridlock in washington continues to generate a separate set of headwinds including harsh and indiscriminate spending cuts from

. >> reporter: inspector general russell george said he informed a deputy at the treasury department in june of 2012 about the probe into the i.r.s. targeting of conservative political groups. >> did you find any evidence of political motivation in the selection of the tax exemption applications? >> we did not, sir. >> reporter: the treasury department confirmed the timeline but said they did not know the details of the investigation until last week. it's the first evidence that someone within the obama administration knew about the white house was told of the federal investigation. republican congressman aaron schock serves on the house ways and means committee which oversees the i.r.s. >> we don't have any reason to believe at this point that it was anybody outside i.r.s. directing them to do this. obviously, there's been claimed claims that the white house might have been involved and other groups. i don't have any reason to believe that. >> reporter: he says the i.r.s.' behavior was criminal, claiming it hurt the ability of creativity groups to fund raise, and that limited their

last month, the treasury department sold 58 million shares, with the stock trading just below $30. the treasury plans to gradually sell its remaining 240 million shares over the next year to 15 months. the solar impulse, a featherweight solar-powered airplane, took off yesterday in an attempt to fly across the country. this is not the first solar-powered plane to fly, but it is the first to fly at night. the craft is powered by nearly 12,000 photovoltaic cells that charge its batteries and allow for night flight. still to come, are we entering a new age of gas guzzlers? that's later on. but first, it's what you say and how you say it. tips to craft your first impression to get hired, next with bill moller. 7,000 high-school students drop out every school day. let's catch them before it's too late. to start helping students in your community, visit boostup.org. alright, i have 1 minute - give me your best pitch. whether selling yourself to get a new job or selling your business to get a new customer, you have to impress, and you've gotta do it quickly. whether it's on linkedin or in

>> we work closely with the treasury department with no time in government, not quite right to say thereasury department doesn't go on the internet, one initiative that was adopted very much in line with what we are discussing is the treasury department is a slight overstatement for all electronic in the sense that a wide set of benefits payments, electronically, and saving taxpayers a lot of money for mailing and increases accuracy and the system is pretty good and if paper gets lost the treasury department's is a byproduct morceau probably than any time in its history. i don't know much about this to have a view. if you get an e-mail from the u.s. treasury saying congratulations, you have won a free trip, a tour of the city of d.c. and only send $7,000, your free trip will be -- notes from the treasury department may be part of what the ordinary experience involved. the treasury department interacts with them frequently, electronic. >> it says it is the treasury, ignore the treasury, does not directly connect with you. >> fine. i just don't know about that. if that is so it is consis

largest bureau within the treasury department is the irs. lastly, the treasury inspector general admission to -- issued a report regarding disturbing actions. these actions should never be tolerated. president obama has directed secretary lew to make sure all of the inspector general i's recommendations are implemented quickly. i look forward to hearing how the secretary will carry out this directive. i also look for to hearing the additional steps he is taking to ensure no future income tax audits will be conducted in such a discriminatory manner. >> thank you, senator. in order to get to secretary lew's testimony and questions, opening statements will be limited to chair and ranking members. record will be open for the next seven days for opening statements and other materials you would like to submit. 76th's witness is the secretary of the u.s. department of secretary -- department of treasury. secretary bill, welcome. before you begin your statement, there is concern regarding previous actions at the irs. if you would like to say a few wo

a treasury department investigation can only go so far. oo having the treasury department investigate the irs will not produce a serious result. in large measure the treasury department can't seek indictment. >> that as they call for an independent prosecutor to begin looking into this. there are multiple investigations underway in congress. >> doug luzader live in washington, thank you. >>> 20 minutes past the hour and here's a look at what you missed while you were sleeping. overnight a convicted cop killer executed in texas. he was sentenced for killing a police officer 14 years ago. officer was trying to handcuff him after he was stealing a lexus vehicle and that's when he shot the police officer. the former republican governor of south carolina won a special leblgs helderlier this month. many thought his political career was over back in 2009 after he admitted to having the extra marital affair. it is 20 minutes past the hour. we no longer have to image if he did it. listen. >> i followed what i thought the law. >> for theer o.j. simp

the number two men at treasury department are told about the targeting.d in any way we know about yet? we don't know. that's why we have divided government. we're going to have hearings and we're going to find out. then on march 10th -- may 10th of this year, likewise learner in an coincidence is asked a question at a conference about this, and she says yes it's been happening. this just in front of a report that's going to come out from the irs confirming that. this week, the acting commissioner, mr. miller, said that the irs was not corrupt in this it was just breathtaking incompetent. delivering horrible customer service. which, happened to fall dispror portion ately on conservatives. he said, i know these people that i did not know had political motives. >> we do know more than that. ron fournier, on two occasions, higher-ups at the irs went back to the cincinnati office and broaden out the criteria that this didn't seem fair. >> right. the problem with this scandal as it relates to the others, you know, when you're in a position of government saying

now, the white house with its treasury department. obama imported deputy treasury secretary neal roland, was told last year about the irs's tea party suppression tactic. but, the bombshell on wednesday's hearing was treasury department inspector general jay russell george's admission that he had only conducted a quote/unquote audit of irs procedures, not an investigation. under questioning, george acknowledgedded that he did not ask any irs officials whether their targets of the tea -- targeting of the tea party was known to or ons gaited by the white house. george's revelation means that no authority whatsoever has conducted a probe. white house or obama/biden campaign involvement in the irs's political suppression of tea party groups that criticize the president. question. if lois lerner has nothing to hide, why did she invoke her fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination? >> well, there are a lot of interesting factors here that we learn from the hearing this week, and no, we didn't hear from miss lerner who recused herse

according to a treasury department timeline, i.r.s. specialists first began singling out tea party groups in march of 2010. the groups complained and, more than a year later, in june of, s committee sent the first of three letters to the i.r.s. asking if it was targeting conservative groups. the i.r.s. said no, insisting the agency was apolitical and nonpartisan. but later that same month an i.r.s. division head, lois lerner, was informed that agents in cincinnati had been instructed to scrutinize tea party applications for tax- exempt status. she instructed that the criteria be immediately revised. the i.r.s. never acknowledged the targeting. even a year later, in march of 2012 when i.r.s. commissioner doug shulman was asked about it in a ways and means committee hearing. >> there's absolutely no targeting. this is the kind of back-and- forth that happens when people apply for 501(c)(4) status. >> reporter: shulman, a bush appointee, left the agency in november of 2012 when his five- year term expired. the i.r.s. claims shulman wasn't

i want to start by thanking the talented public service at the department of treasury. thoughtful dedicated, focused with the goal is to further the mission of the department of american people. it's my honor to work with them and i'd like to begin an overview on the economy and get into the treasury budget. our economy stronger today than four years ago we need to continue to pursue policies that will accelerate growth. since 2000 economy expanded for 15 consecutive quarters and 6.8 million jobs in the housing market improved. consumer spending, business investment and exports expanded. very tough challenges remain. families across the country are still struggling. unemployment remains high. economic growth needs to be faster and while we've made progress and we need to put our fiscal house in order. political gridlock in washington continues to generate had been including indiscriminate spending cuts from sequester you will be a jack in the month had not replaced a sensible deficit reduction policies. this password replaces sequestration takes a balanced approach to re

bill: what did the irs talk about with the treasury department? what did they talk about with officials at the white house? how did they decide the story would be popped and a conference with a bunch of attorneys earlier this month? all this came about, how the idea was hatched. do you have many answers on that? >> that's why we are having these hearings. in a short amount of time we went from this was a low-level person in an ohio field office to blossoming into a whole array of people with significant roles and responsibilities that evidently knew about it and we'll see where that trail takes us. but for an agency that would make a concerted effort to plant a question and they have this sort of deceiving nature to them to say we'll plant a question and go to the idea that maybe they haven't been so candid back for the years ago when republicans in large part were asking very direct, specific questions about this activity. bill: it has been said lois lerner pea pared before a congressional committee four times in the past year and in those appear

as you say, they were told over at the treasury department about this audit back in june of 2012. last year, the deputy treasury secretary was informed of the investigation, but again, just the fact that it was going on, not that there was any actual wrongdoing found. then in november there was the presidential election. in march, that's when the treasury department was first informed at a staff level only we're told, that there was -- they were given a draft that showed there had been wrongdoing. they found wrongdoing, but that only got to the staff level. in april of 2012, a final report got to the treasury secretary, and the deputy treasury secretary. and then in may, we all know that the final report went public. so it was in march of this year that others inside the treasury department got word, and then in april that the treasury secretary found out. i'm told that treasury officials never told anyone outside the treasury department about it. so that includes the white house. the problem, wolf, for officials here, is that, as they answer some questions, that only raises other

as treasury department was trying to stop permanently in the one nine hundred forty s. words but we have a graph here a central bank assets of the percent of g.d.p. europe and the u.s. share of central bank assets are steadily increasing over the past six years and japan's are projected to reach sixty percent or higher makes a quantitative easing itself as a relatively recent phenomenon officially chasing back to japan and shoot outs and wind is it possible that balance sheet targeting or q.e. itself is a manifestation of new monetary regime and not unlike britain we're in uncharted territory is quantitative easing is a reaction to the fact that official policy rates have zero in all these key economic areas so if policymakers want to provide more stimulus they have to use unusual means the interesting thing is that under the treasury department's philosophy back at bretton woods in the one nine hundred forty s. this would have been impossible because they were determined to institute a fixed exchange rate system where it would be really impossible for central banks to

as treasury department was trying to stop permanently in the one nine hundred forty s. words but we have a graph here a central bank assets of the percent of g.d.p. europe and the u.s. share of central bank assets are steadily increasing over the past six years and japan's are projected to reach sixty percent or higher makes a quantitative easing itself as a relatively recent phenomenon officially chasing back to japan and shoot outs and one is it possible that balance sheet targeting or q.e. itself is a manifestation of new monetary regime and not unlike britain we're in uncharted territory of. quantitative easing is a reaction to the fact that official policy rates have zero in all these key economic areas so if. policymakers want to provide more stimulus they have to use unusual means the interesting thing is that under the treasury department's philosophy back at bretton woods in the one nine hundred forty s. this would have been impossible because they were determined to institute a fixed exchange rate system where it would be really impossible for central banks to

s treasury department was trying to stop permanently in the one nine hundred forty s. words but we have a graph here a central bank assets as a percent of g.d.p. europe and the u.s. share of central bank assets are steadily increasing over the past six years. and japan's are projected to reach sixty percent or higher makes a quantitative easing itself as a relatively recent phenomenon i facially chasing back to japan and she thousand and one is it possible that balance sheet targeting our q.e. itself is a manifestation of new monetary regime and not unlike britain we're in uncharted territory is here a quantitative easing is a reaction to the fact that official policy rates have zero in all these key economic areas so if policymakers want to provide more stimulus they have to use unusual means the interesting thing is that under the treasury department's philosophy back at bretton woods in the one nine hundred forty s. this would have been impossible because they were determined to institute a fixed exchange rate system where it would be really impossible for central b

. >> how about the treasury department? where is the treasury department? >> they should have said it friday. >> overseaing obama care. that is huge. waivers and regulations. the entire tea party movement was basically a revote against obama care. that means they were going after obama care right then and there. and that conflict has got to be resolved. >> this is connected to obama care. >> do you agree that he came out too late? >> i don't know that it matters when he came out. >> what are your thoughts? >> i think neil hit the nail on the head. it's really about the messaging. and hit with a flood of these applications. you can conceive that civil servants decided that the way to whittle down the pile was to come up with parameters. and what we know is that their higher ups said to stop it. it will be the revelations of that cover up. >> it's steadily a mess. >> don't you think that the time line will be absolutely crucial? there were official memos and circulars put out. they have got to explain that. who wrote those memos. who saw them. why did the com

he says i have now had the opportunity to review the treasury department's watch dog report on its investigationf irs personnel, who improperly targeted conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status, and the report's findings are intolerable and inexcusable. he says i've directed treasury secretary lew to hold those responsible for these failures accountable and to make sure that each of the inspector general's recommendations are iplemented quickly. i'm going to skip ahead. he says this conduct was wrong. i'm skipping ahead because now the treasury secretary has issued his own statement, piers, and he says that the irs must be impartial and nonpartisan, and goes on to say that he believes the need for accountability there is essential. i expect the irs to implement the recommendations without delay. what no one has said here, piers, is that anyone is getting fired, that any jobs are being lost, that anyone's cleaning house instantly or that any explicit action is being taken. so you know, i've already been in touch with some republicans who say this is not enough. now, i'll point out that

i am more concerned what happens to the integrity of the treasury department. the congress's integrity is already shot and we can't afford too many hits like this if people are going to have confidence in these public officials, whether they're appointed or elected or selected. neil: congressman, thank you. >> thank you, neil. neil: meanwhile the justice department targeting reporters. the irs harassing conservatives. a whole administration supposedly revising benghazi talking points and the boss didn't know any of this was going on? to a former corporate boss who says that doesn't say much about, well the boss but does require swift and immediate action from the boss. former mcdonald's usa chief says it it is time for the president to start kicking some buns. pretend you're the president of the united states. you met with treasury officials at white house. you're trying to get to the bottom of this. what do you do? >> you have to take decisive action. i used to have franchises, mcdonald's has got great franchisees but every once in a while we would have somebo