Sen. Paul: IRS targeting ‘too widespread’

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Sunday that he believes the targeting of conservative groups by the IRS was more “widespread” than the IRS claims.

“I can’t believe that one agent sort of started this,” Paul said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union. “It seems too widespread.”

The IRS had said it identified two “rogue” employees in its Cincinnati office that directed more stringent reviews of conservative- and Tea Party-linked groups that applied for federal tax-exempt status.

Paul said he thinks a written policy instructing IRS employees to zero in on conservative groups might exist.

{mosads}“When that comes forward, we need to know who wrote the policy and who approved the policy,” Paul said.

The scandal has led to Internal Revenue Service acting director Steven Miller’s ouster, and questions from GOP lawmakers about any White House involvement in the political targeting.

But Dan Pfeiffer, a senior advisor to Obama, reiterated on State of the Union that Obama learned of the IRS scandal from the news one week ago.

A CNN/ORC poll released Sunday morning showed that 61 percent of respondents believed Obama’s statements on the IRS debacle have been accurate, with 35 percent disagreeing with how Obama has characterized IRS actions.

Respondents also supported the GOP response to the IRS matter, with 54 percent approving of congressional Republican reaction and 42 percent saying they’re overreacting.

Paul, for his part, said the administration’s response to the IRS issue has been too weak.

“They’re having some commissioners resign who were going to resign already,” Paul said.