a timeline reveals that managers in the irs washington office were involved as early as april 1, 2010, that contradicts what the irs initial story was, that this was just low-level staffers in its cincinnati office. the irs is doingf damage control today with acting commissioner steven t. miller writing in usa today, quote: r eporter: here on capitol hill today senate be republican leader mitch mcconnell is not buying it. i m calling on the president to make available completely and without restriction everyone, everyone who can answer the questions we have as to what s been going on at the irs, who knew about it and how high it went. reporter: fox news has also reported it was not just about the irs giving extra scrutiny
the justice department did subpoenaing the ap telephone records. we at the white house had no knowledge of it. eric holder and president obama are about as tight as you can get in washington, aren t they? exactly. and i just signed jay carne find jay carney s sudden ignorance extremely convenience. when you have over a hundred journalists records being seized without notice you owe the country an explanation, and i can t wait to see how he s going to get out of this one. jon: does it make since, marvin, does it pass the smell test that the justice department would be subpoenaing these records and this story tha know, favorable to the white house, frankly, talked about how the white house was on top of terrorism in northern africa, and the white house would know nothing about it? no, that part of it doesn t doesn t sit very well with me either. but we have to be mindful of the fact that the government has a
jenna: new information just into our newsroom today on last year s deadly italian cruise ship disaster. hearings are underway in an italian courtroom right now to decide who will stand trial for this accident that killed 32 people. you may remember the costa concordia ran aground off the coast of an italian island and still remains there where it went down more than a year ago. the captain is charged with manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship. the captain s hraurb says his client feels depressed at the word wide aggression against him. prosecutors are also seeking to charge five other officers in this major accident. turning back to washington now in and the three growing scandals rocking the obama administration. benghazi, the irs targeting conservatives and other groups, and now the justice department s seizure of phone records from
conservative organizations and thaeurp contributor their contributors and tax substitute tuesday and so forth. this one we are talking about with our news watch panel today, the justice department seizing phone records from the associated press, especially those who work in washington looking for answers as to who leaked a story that was ultimately favorable to the administration but perhaps damaging to national security. once again judith miller is our guest along with marvin kalb. eric holder we have just learned has recused himself from involvement in this ap case, marvin. and apparently it s because he did testify he was interviewed when they were first looking for answers as to who leaked this information. i just want to get your thoughts on his recusal here. well, on the recusal itself i can t offer any terrific insight, i don t know, let s wait and see what he says.
the ap says it still isn t sure what the justice department was looking for. they haven t told us what they re looking for and nor have they explained why we got no prior notice, which our lawyers tell us is not only customary but required. this is not a very narrow cast inquiry. it seems to be very broad and we don t really know what it s about since they haven t told us. reporter: reports indicate the irs targeting of tax-exempt tea party groups for extra scrutiny went beyond the cincinnati office responsible for certifying the status. irs officials in washington and california sent inquiries to tea party groups. the white house is legally prohibited from contacting the irs about a tax matter and the president can not fire the head of the group responsible. mr. obama strongly criticized the reports but that has not stopped republicans from criticizing him. i think in that sense the president s failing that test of power because he is