Lindsey Graham: "No evidence" IRS was acting on White House instructions

Darrell Issa says that some IRS employees claim the directives came from the IRS office in Washington

Published June 3, 2013 7:07PM (EDT)

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., says that there's "no evidence" so far that IRS officials were acting based on directives from the White House when they targeted conservative groups.

"I don't believe this was something thought up in the Cincinnati office, but I have no evidence that goes to the White House," Graham said on Fox News Radio on Monday, the Huffington Post reports.

Graham made his comments after Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, called White House Press Secretary Jay Carney a "paid liar " over the weekend, and said that employees from the IRS Cincinnati office allege that this is "a problem that was coordinated in all likelihood right out of Washington headquarters -- and we're getting to proving it."

"I don't think it was a localized issue. I think it was a coordinated effort by some people to silence conservative critics of the president," Graham added. "That's pretty clear. How far it went, we don't know."


By Jillian Rayfield

Jillian Rayfield is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on politics. Follow her on Twitter at @jillrayfield or email her at jrayfield@salon.com.

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Barack Obama Conservatives Darrell Issa Irs Lindsey Graham Ohio