IRS Agent Who Eyed Tea Party Is Republican: Top Dem

The top Democrat investigating the IRS scandal says that an IRS manager who identifies as a conservative Republican fueled the targeting of Tea Party groups, leading Rep. Elijah Cummings to conclude that partisan politics weren't involved and "the case is solved." As Reuters reports, Cummings yesterday unveiled an interview with the IRS manager, which goes "a long way toward showing that the White House was not involved in this," he told CNN's State of the Union. "If it were me, I would wrap this case up and move on."

His GOP counterpart, Darrell Issa, says he very much disagrees. The IRS manager in question, who works in the Cincinnati office, sent a Tea Party group's case to Washington to see if it merited tax-exempt status, he said in the interview transcript, per the Washington Post. The day he sent it—Feb. 25, 2010—is the day the targeting began, according to investigators. Cummings says he'll release the full transcripts of investigators' interviews this week if Issa doesn't do it first. (More IRS stories.)