This blog post is written in five parts:

1.  The Sec. 501(c)(4) Story: Program Notes – Part 1
2.  The Sec. 501(c)(4) Story: Program Notes – Part 2-Plot and Controversy #1
3.  The Sec. 501(c)(4) Story: Program Notes – Part 3-Controversy #2
4.  The Sec. 501(c)(4) Story: Program Notes – Part 4-Controversy #3
5.  The Sec. 501(c)(4) Story: Program Notes – Part 5-Controversy #4 & Resolution

Controversy #2

Who knew what, and were congressional inquiries in recent years answered correctly?

The website for the May 22, 2013, hearing by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform includes Lois Lerner’s answers to TIGTA’s questions. The first question was whether anyone outside of the IRS influenced the selection criteria. Her answer: “To the best of my knowledge, no individual or organization outside the IRS influenced the creation of these criteria.”
 
The House Ways and Means Committee has posted a timeline of when groups and individuals took actions or knew something. The House Committee on Oversight sent a letter to Lerner on May 14, 2013, suggesting that she “provided false or misleading information on four separate occasions last year in response to the Committee’s oversight of IRS’s treatment of conservative groups applying for tax exempt status.” The letter also requests numerous documents for continued investigation. On May 20, 2013, the Senate Finance Committee sent a letter to Acting Commissioner Miller with 41 questions.