President Obama has pleaded ignorance and said he knew nothing about the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups during the 2012 election season until news reports surfaced last Friday.
His right-hand man and adviser David Axelrod took that defense a step further on Wednesday, saying he literally doesn’t know anyone at the embattled tax collection agency.
“I was in the White House during the years, I think much of the period in question. I must say, I don’t think I could pick an IRS person out of a lineup,” Mr. Axelrod said during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program.
“I never met any of them when I was there” in the West Wing, he added.
The government is “so vast,” Mr. Axelrod said, that it’s unreasonable to expect Mr. Obama — or any president — to keep tabs on every development in every department or agency.
“There’s so much underneath you that you can’t know,” Mr. Axelrod said.
Attorney General Eric Holder has announced a criminal probe into whether anyone at the IRS broke the law.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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