House Dems: IRS IG intervening on document release

“It is imperative that the inspector general operate in a non-partisan manner and be completely forthcoming with the Congress and the American people,” Levin, the top Democrat at House Ways and Means, later added in a statement.

{mosads}The statements are just the latest effort from Democrats to rev up the criticism of George, Treasury’s inspector general for tax administration. George is scheduled to testify before House Oversight on Thursday after Cummings raised questions about his May report.

Democrats also have consistently said that there’s no evidence that any of the IRS’s actions were politically motivated.

Top GOP lawmakers also released new information on Wednesday on the role that Lois Lerner, the IRS official at the center of the controversy, played in overseeing tax-exempt applications. The Republicans added that the IRS chief counsel’s office played an unusual role in vetting the applications.

A spokeswoman for George said that the IRS had changed its mind and said it no longer believed a specific entry on the documents revealed confidential information.

“This was a new interpretation for our lawyers, so we asked the IRS for additional information,” the spokeswoman said.