Cummings: Issa cherry-picking information

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, based on transcripts it had seen, that staffers in the Ohio office overseeing tax-exempt applications said that Washington-based officials played a key role in seeking out Tea Party applications.

{mosads}Issa’s office released partial transcripts on Sunday that asserted that Washington staffers were behind the targeting. The Oversight panel and House Ways and Means Committee are jointly holding the interviews, with staffers from both parties involved.

Key figures from both parties have said they want more information about who knew of and ordered the targeting, when they found out and what they did to stop it.

The Journal said the transcripts showed no evidence that the Treasury Department or the White House knew about the targeting.

“I think all of this is restricted to IRS, from what I’ve seen so far. When you cherry-pick and put out what you want to put out, to me, it’s unfortunate,” Cummings said.

“I have no, absolutely no reason to believe that there was White House involvement at all,” Cummings added. “Period.”