In an evening news conference, President Obama
announced that he asked for the resignation of Acting Director of the IRS, Steven Miller, who has submitted his resignation.
"I will not tolerate this kind of behavior in any agency, but especially in the IRS," Obama said at the White House. "Given the power that it has, and the reach that it has in all of our lives. And as I said earlier, it should not matter what political stripe you're from, the fact of the matter is that the IRS has to operate with absolute integrity."
Obama also said that his administration will implement new procedures to ensure the same kind of misconduct does not occur again.
"I've directed Secretary Lew to ensure the IRS begins implementing the [Inspector General's] recommendations right away," Obama said.
"Third, we will work with congress as it performs its oversight role."
Is that enough to nip this scandal in the bud? Probably not. That's not how Republicans work. But this swift reaction of the White House could make a prolonged hissy fit by Republicans politically damaging to them.
4:01 PM PT (Transcripts Editors): The transcript of the news conference can be found here.