White House Did Not Direct IRS To Target Conservatives, Lindsey Graham Says

There is no evidence that President Obama’s administration directed the IRS to target conservative groups, Senator Lindsey Graham said on Monday, refuting another high-ranking Republican.

Graham became the latest Republican to publicly denounce Darrell Issa’s comments that White House press secretary is a “paid liar” for denying the charges and asserting that Obama’s administration is behind the scandal.

In an interview with Kilmeade and Friends on Fox News Radio, Graham said the “personal allegations” against President Obama in relation to the IRS scandal are going too far.

“Let’s not make it personal. Jay Carney is not the issue here. He’s the spokesman for the White House,” Graham said.

Issa had accused the White House of directing the IRS to target conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status. A lengthy report from the IRS Inspector General cleared the White House of involvement in the scandal, which saw Tea Party groups targeted for extra scrutiny.

Issa added that anyone in Washington caught in the scandal holds personal responsibility and should have blown the whistle on the IRS.

Graham did imply that the scandal could be larger than the local office that carried it out, but said that didn’t mean Obama was involved.

“I don’t think it was a localized issue. I think it was a coordinated effort by some people to silence conservative critics of the president,” he said. “That’s pretty clear. How far it went, we don’t know.”

The IRS scandal has led to a lawsuit involving more than two dozen conservative and Tea Party groups. Attorney General Eric Holder and top IRS officials are named in the suit.

“The IRS and the federal government are not going to get away with this unlawful targeting of conservative groups,” said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the 25 groups. “The lawsuit sends a very powerful message to the IRS and the Obama Administration … Americans are not going to be bullied and intimidated by our government.”

President Obama and his White House administration have denied involvement in the IRS scandal.