Carney: White House Senior Staff Knew about IRS Targeting, Didn’t Tell Obama

White House press secretary Jay Carney revealed today that White House senior staff knew last month about the investigation of the IRS’s targeting of conservative and tea-party groups, but did not notify the president. President Obama had said he learned of the situation from news reports earlier this month.

White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler was told of the inspector general’s audit of the IRS on April 24, and she later told White House chief of staff Denis McDonough, along with other members of the senior staff. Carney did not say who on the senior staff had been informed.

Carney told reporters that Ruemmler and others decided it was not “necessary” to tell the president of the upcoming IG report, as it was an ongoing investigation. “It’s a judgment of the White House counsel that this is not a matter that she should convey to the president,” he said.