Responding to reports of the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservative groups for increased scrutiny, President Barack Obama was harshly critical of the alleged practice and promised that those responsible would be held accountable.
In a joint press conference with U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday, Obama called the IRS' alleged targeting of certain political groups "outrageous" and said "there's no place for it."
Last Friday, reports indicated that the IRS had apologized to some conservative groups for singling out their applications for tax-exempt status for additional review based on the inclusion of words such as "tea party" or "patriot."
"If in fact IRS personnel engaged in the kind of practices that have been reported on and were intentionally targeting conservative groups, then that's outrageous and there's no place for it," Obama said in remarks in the East Room of the White House.
"I've got no patience with it," he added. "I will not tolerate it and we will make sure that we find out exactly what happened on this."
Obama noted that the Inspector General is conducting an ongoing investigation but said those found to be responsible for the practice would be held "fully accountable."
The president also addressed Republican members of Congress' ongoing scrutiny of last September's deadly attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Obama suggested that Congressional hearings on the attacks and their aftermath are just a politically-motivated "sideshow."
He denied claims of a cover-up related to the attack, noting that a senior counterterrorism aide told lawmakers the attack was terrorism three days after U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice mistakenly claimed the incident was the result of a spontaneous demonstration related to an anti-Islamic video.
"If this was some effort on our part to try to downplay what had happened or tamp it down, that would be a pretty odd thing that three days later, we end up putting out all the information that now serves as the basis for everybody recognizing this was a terrorist attack," Obama said.
He added, "Who executes some sort of cover-up or effort to tamp things down for three days? So, the whole thing defies logic."
The attack on the consulate on September 11, 2012 resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens.
The remarks from Obama come on the heels of a rough few days for the White House, with the Benghazi hearings and the IRS news leading to a lot of headaches for the administration.
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