does that include the irs scandal over the targeting of political groups? dana bash has been reporting on the irs controversy for months. there s the suggestion this is a phony controversy, dana. what s going on? reporter: there is legitimate controversy about unfair delays in treat party irs investigations. but so far officials in both parties tell me they have not traced it to any obama officials. there was buzz that there was a connection to an obama appointee. he was referring to testimony that the office of the irs chief counsel was involved in scrutinizing irs applications. she called that a bomb shell because the chiefs counsel is one of only two political appointees at the irs. there is no evidence that the actual counsel knew anything about the tea party targeting. there are 1,600 employees in the
maybe he should come to the situation room. he s more than welcome. he d be excited to be here in the situation room. it s a lovely room. president obama blasting what he calls phony scandals. does that include the one over targeting irs political groups. and americans are among the casualties in the horrific train derailment in spain. sfx: birds chirping [ whirring ] [ dog barks ] i want to treat more dogs. our business needs more cases. [ male announcer ] where do you want to take your business? i need help selling art. [ male announcer ] from broadband to web hosting to mobile apps, small business solutions from at&t have the security you need to get you there. call us. we can show you how at&t solutions
candy crowley and zek miller, editor for time magazine. this is the president speaking out on phony scandals. they don t think that s a probl problem. the point is with an endless distraction of political posturing and phony scandals and lord knows what, washington keeps taking its eye off the ball. so he s trying to deflect right now. that s why he launched these series of speeches today, earlier in the week. can he succeed in getting away from these what he calls phony scandals? depend what is he s talking about? irs, legitimate questions. is he talking about benghazi? legitimate questions. is he talking about following reporters who are trying to find out? legitimate questions.
enemies and we re going to reward our friends. look, that s misleading. there s no evidence that there is, again, any motivation in the case of the president to deal with the irs and tea party applications. now, in the case of mitch mcconnell, he did warn early on many people wouldn t listen to him that tea party applicants were getting inappropriate questions, unfair delays. clearly he s trying to capitalize in his own reelection campaign, never mind the respecifics. can you argue the white house may have been guilty of jumping to conclusions. they tried to brush it off arguing it was just limited to employees in the cincinnati office. it abundantly clear that s not true. this is really the important point. so far these are washington bureaucrats, not obama political operatives. good explanation. dana, thanks very much. let s get a little more with our chief political correspondent,
office of the chief counsel. a few of the career lawyers were brought in to deal with the issue. one source summed it up saying what we learned is meaningful but it s not a bomb shell. republicans are already using this issue in their campaigns for mid-term elections. they certainly are. it s too juicy to pass you. we are going to watch two videos accusing the president of using the irs for political advantage. he s used the irs to launch a war on our freedom of speech. when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal. what does the president believe? the law here is irrelevant. we re going to punish our