Moving quickly to try to address the scandal over the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative groups, President Barack Obama announced Thursday that he has appointed Daniel Werfel as the agency's new acting commissioner.
Werfel, who currently serves as Controller of the Office of Management and Budget, replaces Steven Miller, who was asked to resign on Wednesday.
The move comes after an inspector general report confirmed that IRS personnel improperly targeted conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
"Throughout his career working in both Democratic and Republican administrations, Danny has proven an effective leader who serves with professionalism, integrity and skill," Obama said in a statement.
He added, "The American people deserve to have the utmost confidence and trust in their government, and as we work to get to the bottom of what happened and restore confidence in the IRS, Danny has the experience and management ability necessary to lead the agency at this important time."
The White House said Werfel will lead efforts to ensure the IRS implements new safeguards to restore public trust and administers the tax code with fairness and integrity. Werfel has agreed to serve through the end of the fiscal year in September.
Earlier in the day, Obama continued to try to distance himself from the scandal, claiming that he had no knowledge of an investigation of the agency's controversial practice of targeting conservative groups.
In a rainy Rose Garden press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Obama indicated that he did not know about the inspector general's audit until it was revealed in the media.
"I can assure you that I certainly did not know anything about the IG report before the IG report had been leaked through the press," Obama said.
"Typically, the IG reports are not supposed to be widely distributed or shared. They tend to be a process that everybody is trying to protect the integrity of," he added. "But what I'm absolutely certain of is that the actions that were described in that IG report are unacceptable."
Following the inspector general's report, Obama said his main concern is fixing the problem and noted that he began that process by accepting Miller's resignation.
In a memo sent to IRS employees, Miller acknowledged the need to restore public trust in the IRS and said he believes the agency will benefit from having a new acting commissioner during this challenging period.
Miller penned an op-ed for USA Today earlier in the week admitting that the IRS made mistakes in handling a surge in applications for tax-exempt status from advocacy groups but arguing that the targeting of certain groups for additional scrutiny was not politically motivated.
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