Obama: IRS actions are 'intolerable and inexcusable'
(CNN) – President Barack Obama has directed Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to hold accountable those who made mistakes in the Internal Revenue Service's scrutiny of conservative groups.
The president released a statement Tuesday night firmly condemning the IRS' action after a report from the agency's inspector general found that the IRS used "inappropriate criteria" to identify potential political applications and then forwarded those applications to a team of specialists for review.
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Chaffetz doesn’t rule out impeachment for Obama
(CNN) - Rep. Jason Chaffetz reiterated Tuesday that the impeachment of President Barack Obama is possible as the White House faces scrutiny over its role in responding to the terror attack on a U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
“Look, it's not something I'm seeking,” the Republican congressman from Utah said on CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.” “It's not the endgame; it's not what we're playing for. I was simply asked, is that within the realm of possibilities, and I would say ‘yes.’ I'm not willing to take that off the table. But that’s certainly not what we’re striving for.”
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Minnesota governor signs same-sex marriage bill into law
(CNN) - Minnesota became the 12th state to legalize same-sex marriages Tuesday after Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, signed a bill giving same-sex couples the right to marry.
"It's history," his Twitter account read, along with a photo of him signing the bill on the Capitol steps. The state Senate on Monday voted 37-30 in favor of approving the legislation.
Obama struggles with rocky start to second term
Washington (CNN) - Secretly accessing phone records of journalists. IRS targeting of conservative groups. Misleading statements last year about the Benghazi terrorist attack.
News headlines of the past week portray an administration engulfed in potential scandal, providing opponents of President Barack Obama with plenty of ammunition to try to derail his agenda in the early months of his second term.
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Immigration bill is Democratic plot, House conservative says
Washington (CNN) - A prominent House conservative said Tuesday that the immigration reform bill now under consideration in the Senate is part of an ongoing plot to build a massive new Democratic voting bloc.
America's growing Hispanic vote is "a huge boon for Democrats. They have known that for a long time," said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. Their message has been that "we are going to recruit all you folks. That we are going to give amnesty to (you) to become Democrats."
FULL STORYFirst on CNN: GOP going after Dems in ads over IRS scandal
Washington (CNN) – As the Obama administration takes heat for the recent Internal Revenue Service controversy, the House Republican campaign arm is making sure some Democrats in Congress face pressure, as well.
The National Republican Congressional Committee is rolling out a slew of web ads, calling on House Democrats to condemn the IRS' targeting of conservative groups that filed for tax-exempt status in the last few years. However, a number of the targeted Democrats have issued such statements.
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Report finds IRS targeted conservative groups, delayed applications
(CNN) - The Internal Revenue Service deliberately targeted groups with "tea party" in their names and who were applying for federal tax exempt status, delaying processing of their applications and requesting unnecessary information, according to an advance copy of a report by the agency's inspector general obtained Tuesday by CNN.
The report found that for more than 18 months beginning in early 2010 the IRS developed and put in place a policy that used "inappropriate criteria" to identify potential political applications and then forwarded those applications to a team of specialists for review.
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Out of left field: Senate leaders agree
(CNN) - Leave it to a sports injury to bring unity to the nation's capital.
After Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper crashed into a wall trying to catch a ball Monday night, the Democratic and Republican leaders in the Senate joined up to send their good wishes.
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CNN's GUT CHECK for May 14, 2013
CNN's GUT CHECK | for May 14, 2013 | 5 p.m.
– n. a pause to assess the state, progress or condition of the political news cycle
TABLES TURNED: JUSTICE TO EXAMINE IRS ACTIONS… Attorney General Eric Holder announced Tuesday he has ordered an investigation into the IRS targeting conservative groups. While the IRS has admitted that members of its Cincinnati office engaged in political targeting of some conservative groups, documents suggest at least three other offices did the same.
NIXONIAN? White House Press Secretary Jay Carney dismissed the comparison Tuesday that the Obama White House operates in similar fashion to the Nixon administration. “I can tell you that people who make those comparisons need to check their history because what we have here with one issue Benghazi is so clearly, as we are learning more and more a political sideshow, a deliberate effort to politicize a tragedy,” Carney said.
Can chocolate be the new gun control?
(CNN) - While lawmakers in Washington have yet to agree on proposals to reduce gun violence, Myles Nelson, a seven-year-old from Milwaukee, has his own mouth-melting pitch: Turn bullets into chocolate.
"Dear Vice President Biden, I have a great idea," Nelson wrote in a letter that he read aloud to CNN Affiliate WTMJ. "I think guns should shoot out chocolate bullets. Then no one will get killed and no one will be sad."
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