Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Friday that the IRS took too long to apologize for targeting conservative groups under the Obama administration, and credited the Trump administration for the apology.
“While five years is too late, I’m happy the IRS finally admitted they targeted conservative groups during the Obama administration,” McConnell said in a statement Friday. “This shameful scandal was a direct and deliberate violation of these groups’ and individuals’ First Amendment rights.”
The IRS admitted it was wrong and apologized to members of the American Center for Law and Justice, which sued the IRS in the wake of the scandal.
McConnell said conservative groups in Kentucky “were targeted, as were thousands of others across the country,” but the matter “was swept under the rug by Obama administration bureaucrats and congressional Democrats who blocked serious and legitimate oversight attempts every step of the way.”
The Justice Department settled cases in lawsuits involving conservative groups who say they were targeted by the Internal Revenue Service under former President Barack Obama.
The settlements are pending approval by district courts, but involve the NorCal Tea Party Patriots — which included 428 members — and 41 plaintiffs in Linchpins of Liberty v. United States. In the lawsuits, the groups alleged their tax-exempt status was delayed by the IRS because of their push for conservative causes.
McConnell pointed out that he called for a government-wide review during the Obama administration following evidence reported by the Treasury Inspector General that the IRS was targeting conservative groups who applied for tax-exempt status.
McConnell also opposed the nomination of IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, who will not be reappointed in November.
“With a new administration, we will no longer have this wrongdoing,” McConnell said.
