Rep. Graves: 'I Want to Know if IRS Commissioner Lied to Me'

Yahoo! News reported that former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman denied that the IRS targeted conservative groups when asked by Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA-14) during an Appropriations subcommittee hearing on March 21, 2012. However, ABC News reports that “senior IRS officials in Washington” were aware of the targeting of conservative groups in August 2011—months before Shulman denied the activity under questioning from Graves.

“I want to know if former IRS Commissioner Shulman lied to me and our committee,” said Graves. “The report today that senior IRS officials in Washington knew about the targeting of conservative groups over seven months before our subcommittee hearing raises serious questions about the truthfulness of the former commissioner’s testimony.

“We must find out who ordered the targeting of conservative groups and who in the Obama Administration knew about it. The United States is supposed to be a refuge from this kind of political suppression. What the IRS has done defies every fiber of our democracy.”