The House Ways and Means Committee will interview top Internal Revenue Service officials on Friday morning, giving lawmakers an opportunity to ask questions and get involved in the growing scandal that the tax agency’s targeted and audited conservative nonprofit groups because of their political affiliations. The committee will hear testimony from Steven Miller, the agency’s ousted acting commissioner and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, J. Russell George.
Expect tough questions from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, NBC News’ Luke Russert said on Morning Joe Friday. Democrats eager to separate themselves from the scandal-stricken president will be particularly fired up. They will need to “show that Democrats don’t want to be cobbled into this mess that the IRS has created,” he said.
As for Republicans committee members, Russert said to expect conservatives to enjoy the high ground. “It’s the cliché thing now in D.C. to say, ‘look, they can’t make this into a witch hunt, because they lose the political high ground.”
Tune in starting at 9 a.m. and watch out for these key parts of the hearing.
Jane Timm