By Michael O’Brien , Political Reporter, NBC NewsFollow @mpoindc !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');

As the White House works to contain the political fallout over its knowledge that the IRS had targeted conservative groups applying for nonprofit status, the outgoing agency chief and IRS inspector general will join former Commissioner Douglas Shulman in an appearance Tuesday before the Senate Finance Committee.

Republicans hope the hearing – along with a separate hearing before a House committee on Wednesday – will provide them new tinder to keep alive public outrage toward the IRS abuses, which has in turn helped offer the GOP a unifying moment in its opposition to Obama and his agenda. The disclosure of new details about when the White House first found out about the IRS misconduct was likely to arm Republicans with new information heading into those high-profile hearings.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said Monday that Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and other senior administration staff first learned about the details of the forthcoming report after April 24, when White House counsel Kathy Ruemmler was told about the report, which was still an unfinished draft.

An Andrea Mitchell Reports political panel previews the Senate Finance Committee's upcoming hearing on the IRS controversy.

“To be clear, we knew the subject of the investigation and we knew of the nature of some of the potential findings, but we did not have a copy of the draft report,” said Carney, who emphasized that no member of the White House staff sought to intervene with the report. “We did not know the details, the scope or the motivation surrounding the misconduct, and we did not know who was responsible.”

Those details speak to Republicans’ questions about whether Obama or other members of the administration knew about the IRS abuses sooner than they have let on. The witnesses at Wednesday’s House committee will feature two officials who could offer further detail. The first, Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin, will certainly be pressed on whether he shared his knowledge of the IRS investigation, about which he was first briefed in the summer of 2012. The second, Lois Lerner, leads the department within the IRS overseeing tax-exempt organizations, and has become an increasing target of criticism as lawmakers look to assign blame for the agency’s abuses.

But first comes Tuesday’s Senate hearing, which will be controlled by Democrats who enjoy the privileges of being in the upper chamber’s majority party. But that hardly means that the morning’s Senate Finance Committee hearing will be a cakewalk for the three witnesses.

Shulman, who served as IRS commissioner during much of the span in which the targeting of conservatives was said to have taken place, will make his first appearance before Congress since revelations of the controversy emerged earlier this month. Joining him will be Steven Miller, the IRS commissioner who was forced to resign last week, and J. Russell George, the inspector general whose report brought to light the charges against the IRS.

Both Miller and George appeared at last Friday’s hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee looking into the IRS scandal. But while Miller apologized for the targeting of conservatives, which he blamed on “foolish mistakes” by IRS officials, he defied Republican lawmakers’ suggestions that the abuses were deliberate, or fueled by partisan motivation.

That hasn’t stopped Republicans, though, from trying to use the IRS fiasco – along with simultaneous controversies involving the terrorist attack last year in Benghazi, Libya and revelations that the Justice Department had seized journalists’ phone records – to gain political traction against the Obama administration.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky cites examples of what he sees as political maneuvering by the Obama administration.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, Ky., said Sunday that the controversies amounted to evidence of a “culture of intimidation” being perpetuated by the administration. But he and Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., the Ways and Means Committee chairman, admitted they had no evidence to support their insinuations that the president or his aides had ordered the extra scrutiny for conservative groups.

“We don't have anything to say that the president knew about this,” Camp said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

And new polling suggests that the public – so far – is inclined to believe that is the case. A CNN/ORC poll conducted toward the end of last year found that 55 percent of Americans believe that IRS officials acted on their own in the controversy, versus 37 percent who said they think the White House ordered the singling out of conservatives. Furthermore, 61 percent of Americans said in the same poll that they regarded what Obama as said in public about the scandal to be either mostly or completely truthful.

Republicans’ ability to undermine those numbers and build political momentum for themselves could depend upon their ability to unearth new revelations about the scope of the abuses during this week’s hearings. GOP lawmakers have made an issue of when Treasury officials and the White House counsel’s office were made aware of allegations of IRS abuses, though the administration has countered by pointing out that a House committee headed by a top Republican critic, Rep. Darrell Issa, Calif., was aware of the investigation into the IRS well before last year’s election.

It could be the case that Wednesday’s hearing, conducted by the Issa-led House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, could be the source of more explosive details about the IRS scandal, if more are to be known.

Related stories:

• White House aides learned of IRS details in April, but didn't tell Obama
• First Thoughts: Scandal or bureaucratic incompetency?
• White House defends IRS handling, McConnell asserts 'culture of intimidation'

 

This story was originally published on Tue May 21, 2013 3:34 AM EDT

 

By Carrie Dann, Political Reporter, NBC News

Several prominent conservative media figures are backing a new effort by groups who oppose bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform, signaling growing willingness from conservative outlets to marshal their audiences against the bill.

Signatories on a new open letter to Congress titled “The Wrong Way to Reform Immigration” include RedState editor Erick Erickson, radio hosts Laura Ingraham and Mark Levin, and columnist Michelle Malkin.

“No matter how well intentioned, the Schumer-Rubio bill suffers from fundamental design flaws that make it unsalvageable,” the letter states. “Many of us support various parts of the legislation, but the overall package is so unsatisfactory that the Senate would do better to start over from scratch.”

The letter, originally circulated by Eagle Forum president Phyllis Schlafly, is also signed by over 100 individuals and grassroots organizations, including former Rep. Allen West, Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin, and author David Limbaugh, the brother of famed conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.

While the influence of conservative radio hosts was widely credited for the collapse of a 2007 effort to overhaul the nation’s immigration system, a trio of controversies – the IRS targeting scandal, the Justice Department leak probe and the Benghazi talking points spat – have largely dominated the airwaves as the current bill works its way through the Senate Judiciary Committee.

While activists working against the bill believe that grass-roots support can again topple the effort to create a pathway to citizenship for the nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants, most concede that the overwhelming Hispanic support for President Barack Obama in the 2012 election made vocal opposition to the bipartisan bill far less politically palatable for Republican lawmakers this time. Additionally, several major groups are still sitting out the fight, like the anti-tax Club for Growth and grass-roots clearinghouse FreedomWorks.

The opposition letter comes after a pledge of support for immigration reform from a coalition of conservative groups that called the bill "an important starting point" and urged Republicans in the Senate to "work to improve the legislation." That letter, organized by the American Conservative Union, was signed by a variety of Latino, faith and public policy groups -- many of which met  earlier this month with Florida Republican Marco Rubio, the key Senate negotiator working to build conservative support for the bill. 

Still, despite steady progress for the Senate legislation and a breakthrough compromise from a bipartisan House group last week, opponents of the legislation feel emboldened by what they see as renewed mistrust of the federal government – particularly in the wake of the IRS controversy.

On Monday, foes of the legislation got an additional boost when the union representing 12,000 employees of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said it will oppose the Senate bill, in part because of an “insurmountable bureaucracy” created at the agency that processes immigration documents.

Activists also plan to hold more than 40 local events nationwide Tuesday to highlight opposition to the Senate legislation.

Related stories:

• Senate panel gives green light to test biometric exit program
• Union of immigration enforcement officers to oppose Senate bill

 

This story was originally published on Tue May 21, 2013 12:07 AM EDT

By Michael O'Brien, Political Reporter, NBC NewsFollow @mpoindc !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');

 

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul continue to stoke speculation about a possible run for president in 2016 during a Monday evening speech in New Hampshire, where he said the targeting of conservative groups by the IRS was "un-American."

Paul spoke on Monday in the state which hosts the nation's first presidential primary every four years, 10 days after delivering a highly-touted speech in Iowa, the only state whose nominating contest precedes New Hampshire's in each presidential election cycle.

In the week and a half since then, Republicans have been politically invigorated by a new report condemning IRS officials' actions to single out conservative and Tea Party groups for more scrutiny in applying for tax-exempt status.

"Anybody who would use the power or abuse the power of government to go after their political opponents," Paul said Monday, seizing on the controversy, "to take that brute force, that bullying force of government, and use it against your opponents, there is something distinctly and profoundly un-American about that."

The freshman Kentucky senator joked that the IRS controversy — combined with fresh outrage at President Barack Obama's handling of last year's response to an attack in Benghazi, Libya and revelations that the Department of Justice had monitored journalists' phones and emails as part of a leak investigation — reminded him of "Old MacDonald," the childhood song: "here a scandal, there a scandal, everywhere a scandal."

On Benghazi, Paul repeated his criticism of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's handling of the matter, faulting her and State Department officials for failing to provide adequate security for the U.S. diplomatic compound that fell under attack last September.

"Benghazi should've be treated, and still to this day should be treated, like Baghdad," he said of the security that should be provided for the facility. "It should be under military control, not State Department control."

But for all of Paul's strident criticism of the Obama administration, he did seem to break from some fellow Republicans on libertarian grounds, over the prosecution of the suspect in this year's Boston Marathon terrorist attack. Though many GOP heavyweights have argued that Dzhokar Tsarnaev, the alleged bomber, should have been held for longer without criminal justice rights. Paul paraphrased a conversation of a first responder in Boston to illustrate his point.

"He said, 'What separates us from them is that when we did finally capture him … we sent the suspect to a hospital. He's going to be tried in a court of law, he's going to have an attorney,'" Paul recounted. "If this had been their country, he would have been dragged through the streets if he were an American … and beaten to death with a tire iron. We are different than they are."

This story was originally published on Mon May 20, 2013 9:06 PM EDT

NBC News has learned that President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold a two-day summit June 7-8 in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

This will be Obama's first meeting with Xi Jinping since he took over as China's president. According to a senior official, the two-day summit will feature a "wide range" of issues focused on security and the economy. National Security Council adviser Tom Donilon travels to Beijing in late May to prepare for this two-day meeting.

NBC News has learned that President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold a two-day summit June 7-8 in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

This will be Obama's first meeting with Xi Jinping since he took over as China's president. According to a senior official, the two-day summit will feature a "wide range" of issues focused on security and the economy. National Security Council adviser Tom Donilon travels to Beijing in late May to prepare for this two-day meeting.

By Michael O'Brien, Political Reporter, NBC NewsFollow @mpoindc !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');

 

The White House first learned of a draft report detailing abuses by IRS officials in targeting conservative groups in late April, though the top administration spokesman maintained on Monday that President Barack Obama was not notified of the emerging controversy at that time.

White House press secretary Jay Carney, in a bid to further the administration's public response to revelations that the IRS had singled out conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status for additional scrutiny, disclosed at his daily press briefing that White House counsel Kathy Ruemmler was informed of the report on April 24. She, in turn, told senior White House staff -- including chief of staff Denis McDonough -- of the then-incomplete report, though Carney said those details were never conveyed to Obama.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney is asked about reports that the IRS was targeting political groups nearly 18 months ago.

“To be clear, we knew the subject of the investigation and we knew of the nature of some of the potential findings, but we did not have a copy of the draft report,” said Carney. “We did not know the details, the scope or the motivation surrounding the misconduct, and we did not know who was responsible.”

The new details first offered by Carney come amid growing Republican clamor for more information about who in the White House found out about the IRS investigation, and when. The GOP has sought to cast the administration as either less-than-forthcoming about its knowledge of the investigation, or inept in keeping tabs on such a high-profile investigation.

The press secretary sought to characterize the administration's handling of the information as fairly routine. Carney said that the White House is typically notified of similar inspectors general drafts shortly before publication, and that the details of these reports can often change before publication. Moreover, Carney argued, the abuses at the IRS had ended about a year earlier, meaning that there was no way for the president to act to halt continued misconduct at the IRS.

Obama has said that he did not learn about the IRS controversy until press reports detailing some elements of the inspector general review of the IRS emerged in the press on May 10. Obama has condemned the misconduct, and sought the resignation of the acting IRS commissioner. But his actions haven't slowed Republican criticism of his management of the situation.

Carney said Monday that Obama was not informed by senior staff who were aware of the impending report so as to not compromise the investigation before it had been completed.

"This is not the kind of thing, when you have an ongoing investigation or an ongoing audit, that requires notification to the president because what is important is we wait until that kind of process is completed before we take action," he said.

Furthermore, the press secretary said that no other member of the White House staff sought to intervene in the final stages of the IRS report, because it would have been inappropriate to do so.

This story was originally published on Mon May 20, 2013 3:18 PM EDT

Senator Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., references letters from officials at ICE and the Customs and Immigration Enforcement Association while criticizing proposed U.S. border security under the Gang of Eight's immigration plan.

By Carrie Dann, Political Reporter, NBC News

Aiming to advance a sweeping immigration reform bill by week’s end, senators on the committee considering the legislation planned marathon sessions to complete its edits, including the approval Monday of a compromise measure to implement a test system for taking foreign visa holders’ fingerprints when they exit the United States. 

In an effort to win over Republicans who favor using “biometric” criteria – like fingerprinting -- to monitor when foreigners leave the country, pro-reform members of the Senate Judiciary Committee approved an amendment sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, a Republican considered to be a swing vote on the 18 member committee.  That amendment, a less stringent version of a biometric proposal that failed last week, would require the Department of Homeland Security to establish a fingerprinting system at the 10 U.S. airports with the highest international traffic within two years. After six years, that system would have to be in place at the nation’s 30 biggest airports. 

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Senate Judiciary Committee holds a markup session on the immigration reform legislation in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill May 20, 2013 in Washington, DC.

The biometric tracking is primarily aimed at monitoring visa overstays, which account for an estimated 40 percent of the undocumented population.  

It was adopted by a vote of 13-5.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican who is not on the Senate Judiciary Committee but was a key drafter of the Gang of Eight legislation, has been pushing for the biometric system. 

In a statement, Rubio applauded the passage of the Hatch amendment.

"The amendment adopted today is a good start and I will continue to fight to make the tracking of entries and exits include biometrics in the most effective system we can build when the bill is amended on the Senate floor," he said. 

Prior to the vote, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama – who sponsored an attempt last week to immediately begin implementation of a fingerprinting system at all major air, sea and land ports – slammed the amendment as inadequate, disputing the idea that finalizing a nationwide system would be costly and unwieldy.

“Why we won’t do it and do it properly within a year or 18 months – completely -- I have no idea,” Sessions said.

Congress has previously passed legislation requiring a biometric exit system but has never implemented the program, citing cost, infrastructure challenges and opposition from major airlines.

Proponents of the Hatch measure said it would provide an important step towards implementing a more complete biometric system, which senators on both sides of the aisle agreed would provide the most failsafe method for tracking visa overstays as well as individuals who pose national security threats.

“I do not look at this, Senator Sessions, as a fig leaf,” said Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California. “I look at it as a start.”

Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, another Gang of Eight member, added that all lawmakers are “frustrated” by the fact that a biometric system has not yet been implemented nationwide but that the Hatch measure would be the most “aggressive” mandate yet to start putting one in place.

Senators Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., discuss the use of biometric screening at the nation's airports at a Senate immigration hearing on Monday.

Earlier Monday, senators also approved an amendment proposed by South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, also a member of the Gang of Eight, that would void legal status for individuals who sought asylum in the United States but subsequently returned to the country from which they fled.

That measure was aimed at those like Boston Marathon suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, whose family had been granted asylum in the United States but who had returned to Russia prior to the terrorist attack.

Senators also unanimously approved an amendment to mandate better tracking of immigrants who have overstayed visas by mandating broad data-sharing between customs officials, federal law enforcement and intelligence personnel.  

The committee was slated for a late night Monday. As it began its fourth day of edits to the bill,  Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy said he was optimistic that the panel could complete its work as early as Wednesday night. 

This story was originally published on Mon May 20, 2013 1:25 PM EDT

NBC's Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro discuss the controversies surrounding the White House and whether the question of competency could damage Democrats, especially if Republicans use the argument that the government is too big.

What’s worse for the Obama White House: For the controversies to be full-scale scandals that go all the way to the top?... Or for them to be the result of bureaucratic incompetence?... The latest IRS developments… On Obama’s Morehouse speech… Two unions now oppose the Senate immigration bill… Getting the Hillary ’08 band back together -- or not… And Virginia, meet E.W. Jackson.

By Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Brooke Brower

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

President Barack Obama crosses the South Lawn as he returns from travel to Atlanta via Marine One, at the White House, May 19, 2013.

*** Scandal or bureaucratic incompetency? Here’s a question for the Obama White House to ponder: What’s worse, for all the controversies -- especially the IRS targeting conservative-sounding groups -- to be a full-fledged scandal that goes all the way to the top? Or for them to be the result of bureaucratic incompetence? You could make an argument that the latter outcome could be just as damaging to the president, because it raises doubts about his competency and the public’s trust in government. As Time’s Joe Klein wrote last week, “It can, and will, be argued that the president is to blame for lousy management… Some in the Administration are saying that civil-service rules prevent Obama from firing the midlevel bozos. But what about the higher-ups? Why haven't the Democrats proposed a full-scale review of civil-service laws…? Such laws certainly hinder effective governance, which the Democrats are supposedly selling.” Of course, there are plenty of examples where you can argue that government has worked. Think of the rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy. Or the response to the Boston bombings. But government working in a crisis vs. government working every day are two different issues. And it’s never a good story when a White House has to respond to examples when the government ISN’T working for the American people.

*** Competency questions pile up: After all, the Democrats are the party of government, and Obama got elected, in part, by pushing competency (at least compared with the previous administration). The White House should hope its problems are political in nature, because that’s something they’ve proven adept at dealing with. But the competency questions for this administration are piling up: The Veteran’s Administration is a mess; their explanation on Benghazi is about the lack of communication and security procedures; and the IRS explanation is overworked and mistake-prone bureaucrats in Cincinnati. Right now, the White House is benefitting from those congressional Republicans who are desperately searching for “scandal.” What the White House should fear more is if Republicans use their “government is too big” argument to go to core of competency. 

*** The latest IRS developments: It’s worth noting that today’s “news” about the White House counsel being informed of the IRS audit was first confirmed at a Jay Carney press briefing last week. A senior administration also confirms to NBC News that White House Counsel Kathy Ruemmler did NOT inform the president. What’s not clear is if she gave a heads up to the rest of the senior staff. And what’s also not clear is how much detail Ruemmler was offered about the audit itself. Meanwhile, the Sunday New York Times offered a lengthy piece tracing what went wrong in that Cincinnati IRS office. “While there are still many gaps in the story of how the I.R.S. scandal happened, interviews with current and former employees and with lawyers who dealt with them, along with a review of I.R.S. documents, paint a more muddled picture of an understaffed Cincinnati outpost that was alienated from the broader I.R.S. culture and given little direction. Overseen by a revolving cast of midlevel managers, stalled by miscommunication with I.R.S. lawyers and executives in Washington and confused about the rules they were enforcing, the Cincinnati specialists flagged virtually every application with Tea Party in its name. But their review went beyond conservative groups: more than 400 organizations came under scrutiny, including at least two dozen liberal-leaning ones and some that were seemingly apolitical.”

*** Obama’s Morehouse speech: Also on Sunday, President Obama delivered a very personal commencement address at Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA. “Keep setting an example for what it means to be a man,” he told the graduates at the historically black college. “Be the best husband to your wife, or you’re your boyfriend, or your partner. Be the best father you can be to your children. Because nothing is more important.” The president added, “I was raised by a heroic single mom, wonderful grandparents -- made incredible sacrifices for me… But I sure wish I had had a father who was not only present, but involved. Didn’t know my dad. And so my whole life, I’ve tried to be for Michelle and my girls what my father was not for my mother and me. I want to break that cycle where a father is not at home, where a father is not helping to raise that son or daughter. “I want to be a better father, a better husband, a better man.” And pair Obama’s commencement address with the one his wife delivered on Friday at another historically black college (Bowie State): “Instead of dreaming of being a teacher or a lawyer or a business leader, they’re fantasizing about being a baller or a rapper… Please reject the slander that says a black child with a book is trying to act white.”

*** Two unions now oppose Senate immigration legislation: On the topic of immigration… The National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council, a union representing 12,000 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officers, “will publicly oppose the Senate Gang of Eight immigration plan Monday, giving critics of the overhaul effort additional political ammunition as they work to defeat legislation working its way through the Senate Judiciary Committee,” NBC’s Carrie Dann reports. The reason for the opposition: The union believes the legislation “would fail to address an ‘insurmountable bureaucracy’ at the federal agency overseeing immigration documents.” Dann adds that this union joins the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council in its opposition to the Gang of Eight measure.

*** Getting the band back together -- or not: It should be hardly surprising that folks like Howard Wolfson, Patti Solis Doyle, and Mark Penn would NOT work on a Hillary Clinton presidential campaign if she decides to run in 2016, as the Washington Post reports. After all, none of these people went on to join her at the State Department like other trusted Hillary Inc. aides did. What’s more, Solis Doyle was sacked as campaign manager after Clinton lost Iowa. If Clinton runs, it would likely be a combination of trusted former aides, as well as some new blood. That’s often true for plenty of repeat presidential candidates. Yet there’s another way to look at this Washington Post piece: It’s a message to many outside of Hillary World, especially those who were critical of the ’08 Hillary campaign, that the whole band won’t be getting back together if she runs in ’16. And those folks might see this as a positive development.

*** Meet E.W. Jackson: Virginia Republicans this year are conducting an intriguing experiment in Virginia, a state Obama has twice carried in presidential contests, that’s elected Democrats to U.S. Senate seats the last three times senate elections have been held: Can it win in 2013 with a ticket of candidates who are best known for being VERY conservative and VERY outspoken on social issues? Well, here is E.W. Jackson, a black minister who was nominated to be the GOP’s Lt. Gov. nominee joining Ken Cuccinelli at the top of the ticket. “The newly minted Republican nominee for lieutenant governor of Virginia once compared Planned Parenthood to the Ku Klux Klan and bemoaned black voters’ ‘slavish devotion’ to the Democratic Party — past statements that are likely to inflame the culture-war politics of the state’s 2013 elections,” Politico writes. Indeed, Jackson makes Cuccinelli look moderate on social issues. And this is what happens when you nominate candidates via a convention rather than a primary. Does anyone think that Jackson would have won the GOP’s Lt. Gov. primary? For what it’s worth, the nomination of Cuccinelli as attorney general four years ago was seen by some Republicans as a problem (and a potential opportunity for the Democrats). As it turned out, the top of the ticket could shield itself at the time. Of course, “LG” is more of a “running mate” feel and will be more difficult for Cuccinelli to shield himself from Jackson.

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*** Monday’s “The Daily Rundown” line-up: Sen. Roy Blunt, R-MO, on the IRS and more… A Deep Dive into tomorrow’s L.A. mayoral runoff with the Los Angeles Times’ James Rainey… NBC’s Michael Isikoff with new developments in the DOJ/AP story… Plus the Washington Post’s Dan Balz, the Rothenberg Political Report’s Nathan Gonzales and Politico’s Carrie Budoff Brown join the Gaggle.

*** Monday's "Jansing & Co" line-up: Rep. Jared Polis on IRS and AP/DOJ stories, Manu Raju and McKay Coppins on the impact on the President’s agenda, Neil Irwin on the explosion of student loan debt, Jason Stanford and Matt Schlapp on the Republicans in 2016 and Paul Kiel/Pro Publica on predatory lending targeting military service members.

*** Monday’s “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up: MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts interviews Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) about the IRS and other controversies threatening the President’s agenda… Former President of Equality Richard Socarides joins on the rise in NYC hate crimes...  “The Cycle” Co-Host Ari Melber will preview potential Supreme Court decisions… Pastor Kevin Johnson joins to discuss President Obama’s Morehouse address…  Today’s Agenda Panel includes:   Mother Jones Co-Editor-in-Chief Monika Bauerlein, Talking Points Memo Reporter Sahil Kapur and Florida New Majority Exec. Director Gihan Perera.

*** Monday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, former Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI), the Cook Report’s Amy Walter, and the Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus.

*** Monday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: MSNBC’s Tamron Hall interviews attorney Karen DeSoto (on the Arias trial), Dem strategist Chris Kofinis, the Washington Post’s Anne Kornblut, and NAPW spokesperson Star Jones.

*** Monday’s “The Daily Rundown” line-up: Sen. Roy Blunt, R-MO, on the IRS and more… A Deep Dive into tomorrow’s L.A. mayoral runoff with the Los Angeles Times’ James Rainey… NBC’s Michael Isikoff with new developments in the DOJ/AP story… Plus the Washington Post’s Dan Balz, the Rothenberg Political Report’s Nathan Gonzales and Politico’s Carrie Budoff Brown join the Gaggle.

*** Monday's "Jansing & Co" line-up: Rep. Jared Polis on IRS and AP/DOJ stories, Manu Raju and McKay Coppins on the impact on the President’s agenda, Neil Irwin on the explosion of student loan debt, Jason Stanford and Matt Schlapp on the Republicans in 2016 and Paul Kiel/Pro Publica on predatory lending targeting military service members.

*** Monday’s “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up: MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts interviews Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) about the IRS and other controversies threatening the President’s agenda… Former President of Equality Richard Socarides joins on the rise in NYC hate crimes...  “The Cycle” Co-Host Ari Melber will preview potential Supreme Court decisions… Pastor Kevin Johnson joins to discuss President Obama’s Morehouse address…  Today’s Agenda Panel includes:   Mother Jones Co-Editor-in-Chief Monika Bauerlein, Talking Points Memo Reporter Sahil Kapur and Florida New Majority Exec. Director Gihan Perera.

*** Monday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, former Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI), the Cook Report’s Amy Walter, and the Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus.

*** Monday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: MSNBC’s Tamron Hall interviews attorney Karen DeSoto (on the Arias trial), Dem strategist Chris Kofinis, the Washington Post’s Anne Kornblut, and NAPW spokesperson Star Jones.

*** Monday’s “The Daily Rundown” line-up: Sen. Roy Blunt, R-MO, on the IRS and more… A Deep Dive into tomorrow’s L.A. mayoral runoff with the Los Angeles Times’ James Rainey… NBC’s Michael Isikoff with new developments in the DOJ/AP story… Plus the Washington Post’s Dan Balz, the Rothenberg Political Report’s Nathan Gonzales and Politico’s Carrie Budoff Brown join the Gaggle.

*** Monday's "Jansing & Co" line-up: Rep. Jared Polis on IRS and AP/DOJ stories, Manu Raju and McKay Coppins on the impact on the President’s agenda, Neil Irwin on the explosion of student loan debt, Jason Stanford and Matt Schlapp on the Republicans in 2016 and Paul Kiel/Pro Publica on predatory lending targeting military service members.

*** Monday’s “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up: MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts interviews Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) about the IRS and other controversies threatening the President’s agenda… Former President of Equality Richard Socarides joins on the rise in NYC hate crimes...  “The Cycle” Co-Host Ari Melber will preview potential Supreme Court decisions… Pastor Kevin Johnson joins to discuss President Obama’s Morehouse address…  Today’s Agenda Panel includes:   Mother Jones Co-Editor-in-Chief Monika Bauerlein, Talking Points Memo Reporter Sahil Kapur and Florida New Majority Exec. Director Gihan Perera.

*** Monday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, former Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI), the Cook Report’s Amy Walter, and the Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus.

*** Monday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: MSNBC’s Tamron Hall interviews attorney Karen DeSoto (on the Arias trial), Dem strategist Chris Kofinis, the Washington Post’s Anne Kornblut, and NAPW spokesperson Star Jones.

The New York Times: “The chief White House lawyer, Kathryn Ruemmler, learned last month that a Treasury inspector general had concluded an audit of the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups, weeks before the matter became public, according to a senior White House official.”

The Wall Street Journal: “The White House's chief lawyer learned weeks ago that an audit of the Internal Revenue Service likely would show that agency employees inappropriately targeted conservative groups, a senior White House official said Sunday. That disclosure has prompted a debate over whether the president should have been notified at that time. In the week of April 22, the Office of the White House Counsel and its head, Kathryn Ruemmler, were told by Treasury Department attorneys that an inspector general's report was nearing completion, the White House official said. In that conversation, Ms. Ruemmler learned that ‘a small number of line IRS employees had improperly scrutinized certain…organizations by using words like 'tea party' and 'patriot,'’ the official said.”

Yet, despite the controversies a CNN poll has Obama’s approval rating at 53%, up two points from last month.

Is a President Obama-John McCain alliance breaking out (because of new Chief of Staff Denis McDonough?)

“President Barack Obama, in a soaring commencement address on work, sacrifice and opportunity, on Sunday told graduates of historically black Morehouse College to seize the power of their example as black men graduating from college and use it to improve people’s lives,” AP writes.  “The president said his success was due to ‘the special obligation I felt, as a black man like you, to help those who need it most, people who didn’t have the opportunities that I had — because there but for the grace of God, go I. I might have been in their shoes. I might have been in prison. I might have been unemployed. I might not have been able to support a family. And that motivates me.’”

First Lady Michelle Obama spoke at the commencement at Bowie State Friday, another historically black college, where she said, per NBC’s Carrie Dann: “Instead of dreaming of being a teacher or a lawyer or a business leader, they’re fantasizing about being a baller or a rapper. … Please reject the slander that says a black child with a book is trying to act white.”

It’s not the first time the first lady has spoken openly about the subject matter. In 2009, she said: “I wanted an A, you know, I wanted to be smart, I wanted to be the person who had the right answer. And I didn't care whether it was cool, because I remember there were kids around my neighborhood who would say, ‘Ooh, you talk funny, you talk like a white girl.’ I heard that growing up my whole life. I was like, I don't even know what that means, but you know what, I'm still getting my A.”

State Sen. Barack Obama echoed that in his famous 2004 Democratic National Convention: “Go into any inner city neighborhood, and folks will tell you that government alone can't teach kids to learn. They know that parents have to parent, that children can't achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white.”

Vice President Biden will give the commencement address at the Coast Guard Academy Wednesday.

ObamaCare = RomneyCare? Not exactly. The Boston Globe: “When millions of Americans around the country sign up for insurance under President Obama’s sweeping health care law in October, the system they encounter will lack some of the key protections and cost controls that Massachusetts consumers receive. Massachusetts, the first state in the nation to implement near-universal health coverage, served as the model for major aspects of the groundbreaking health care overhaul law. But the Obama administration has decided, at least in the law’s first year, not to adopt some important features of the Massachusetts plan that advocates say have helped consumers more easily make cost-effective choices.”

Speaking of Romney: He was on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Friday, and he slammed President Obama and Hillary Clinton. He said of the IRS, “My own view is, that a special counsel should be appointed. Because only a special counsel can investigate the administration.” He added, “"I'm not a fan of the president, in case you didn't know that," Romney said. "But look, I believe he cares for the country and wants to make America a better place for the American people. But I think he's not being successful as he would have hoped to have been."

And on Clinton: "I think if Hillary Clinton is the nominee of the Democratic party, there will be a careful inspection of her record as Secretary of State.”

AP: Secretary of State John Kerry is heading back to the Middle East this week to press his case for peace talks between Syrian rebels and President Bashar Assad’s regime amid increasing signs the new U.S. strategy to halt the war is being undermined by Russia. Kerry departs Monday for discussions with the sultan of Oman. He then goes to Jordan to gather with 10 of America’s closest European and Arab partners to discuss how to advance a political transition and end more than two years of bloodshed in Syria, before traveling on to Israel. For the Syria negotiations to succeed, the Obama administration is banking on Russia’s help.”

Republicans were in full attack mode on the Sunday shows: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell accused Obama of a "culture of intimidation" on NBC’s Meet the Press. (That very same language was used by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) on MSNBC’s The Daily Rundown Friday.)

He said that it’s spread throughout government from the IRS to HHS to the FCC and the SEC. He claimed of Health and Human Services Secretary Sebelius: “Secretary Sebelius sent out a directive to health insurance companies telling them they couldn’t inform their policyholders of what they thought the impact of Obamacare would be on them. Now she’s trying to shake them down for contributions in effect to a group to go out and try to convince the public that they should love Obamacare.”

And of the SEC: “The Obama appointees have been engaged in an effort to make it difficult for corporations to exercise their First Amendment, political rights.”

Chaser: “Recently, I had dinner -- it’s been well publicized -- I had dinner with a number of the Republican senators. And I’ll admit it wasn’t easy. I proposed a toast -- it died in committee. Of course, even after I've done all this, some folks still don’t think I spend enough time with Congress. ‘Why don’t you get a drink with Mitch McConnell?’ they ask. Really? Why don’t you get a drink with Mitch McConnell? I'm sorry. I get frustrated sometimes.” – Obama at the White House Correspondents Dinner.

Rand Paul said there’s a “written policy” that was circulated by the IRS to target “people opposed to the president.”

Rob Portman called for a special prosecutor.

Overlooked… “Republicans on Thursday dropped their efforts to stall President Obama’s nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, and her chief antagonist in the Senate conditionally promised to help her avoid a filibuster as the confirmation battle heads to its final step,” the Boston Globe writes. “The nomination of Gina McCarthy was approved by the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works by a party-line vote of 10-8, with all Democrats favoring her and Republicans voting against her. The nomination now goes to the full Senate. McCarthy’s prospects for heading the agency may have received the biggest boost after Senator David Vitter, the Louisiana Republican who had been her chief antagonist, dropped his threat to block her nomination on the Senate floor. Last week, Republicans, led by Vitter, the committee’s ranking member, staged a walkout to deny her the presence of the minority party, which is required in most instances in order for a nominee to be approved by the committee.”

So much for that… Political Wire: “While promoting her new book, former Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) recounted a phone call with President Obama in which he told her she could be ‘a modern-day Joan of Arc’ by supporting his health care bill, the Portland Press Herald reports. When Snowe pointed out Joan of Arc had been burned at the stake, Obama reportedly replied: ‘Don't worry, I'll be there with a fire hose!’ She still voted against the bill on the Senate floor.”

Bye bye budget deal… with those shrinking deficit numbers, a budget deal is unlikely, Reuters writes.

Beth Reinhard: “Florida Sen. Marco Rubio hasn’t popped up in an early-primary state in six months, leaving potential Republican rivals like Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal to make the rounds while he carried the torch for his immigration reform plan. But while furiously working the talk show circuit to sell a bill viewed warily by many Republican voters, Rubio has been just as doggedly laying the groundwork for a successful presidential campaign in 2016.”

“Obamacare backers stymied by conservative legislatures in red states may have a new approach: letting the voters break logjams with state ballot initiatives in 2014,” Politico writes. “Frustrated by conservative opposition to extending Medicaid even in states where Republican governors have embraced it, the president’s allies are strategizing about asking voters to do what their elected leaders have not: accept billions of federal dollars to cover millions of poor people under Obamacare.”

Per a DCCC aide: “The DCCC outraised the NRCC again in April and will have $3.9 M cash advantage over the NRCC (cash-on-hand minus debt). The DCCC outraised the NRCC and will show less debt and more cash-on-hand than the NRCC. The DCCC outraised the NRCC ($5.4M to $5.1M), has less debt ($4.1M v. $6.4M) and more cash-on-hand ($10.4M to $8.7M).”

MASSACHUSETTS: Ed Markey’s (D) going negative, hitting Gabriel Gomez (R) on guns and invoking Newtown. Gomez went on air with his bio spot he ran in the primary. To match the financial disclosure by Gomez, Markey says he’ll release his tax returns “in the very near future.”

“After days of tough questioning, Republican Gabriel E. Gomez went after his Democratic rival for US Senate, saying US Representative Edward M. Markey has been absent from the campaign trail and ‘hiding’ from the controversies roiling the Democratic administration in Washington, D.C.,” the Boston Globe writes.

John McCain (R) will be in Massachusetts to help raise money for Gomez Monday.

NEW YORK: The New York Times: “The State Department, under Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, created an arrangement for her longtime aide and confidante Huma Abedin to work for private clients as a consultant while serving as a top adviser in the department. Ms. Abedin did not disclose the arrangement — or how much income she earned — on her financial report. It requires officials to make public any significant sources of income. An adviser to Mrs. Clinton, Philippe Reines, said that Ms. Abedin was not obligated to do so. The disclosure of the agreement that Ms. Abedin made with the State Department comes as her husband, former Representative Anthony D. Weiner, a Democrat, prepares for a mayoral run in New York City. Politico reported the arrangement on Thursday afternoon.”

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s approval rating is back on the rise, up to 64% in the latest Siena poll.

VIRGINIA: Ken Cuccinelli (R) is requesting 15 debates with Terry McAuliffe (D). Cuccinelli said in a statement: “Virginians face an important decision in November about the future of our Commonwealth and they deserve nothing less than frequent and robust debates. Voters deserve more than scripted sound bites to make an informed decision; they need real debates in every corner of the Commonwealth on topics that matter to their communities and their lives. I want to debate my opponent throughout Virginia and lay out my plan for growing the economy, creating jobs and easing burdens on middle class families."

And there’s this: “The newly minted Republican nominee for lieutenant governor of Virginia once compared Planned Parenthood to the Ku Klux Klan and bemoaned black voters’ ‘slavish devotion’ to the Democratic Party — past statements that are likely to inflame the culture-war politics of the state’s 2013 elections,” Politico writes. “E.W. Jackson, a black minister and activist nominated for lieutenant governor Saturday, posted a four-minute video on YouTube last fall exhorting African-Americans to vote Republican. In the video message, he accused the ‘civil rights establishment’ of selling out their Christian values in order to support Democratic policy positions on gay marriage and abortion.”

Said Jackson in the video: “The Democrat Party has created an unholy alliance between certain so-called civil rights leaders and Planned Parenthood, which has killed unborn black babies by the tens of millions. Planned Parenthood has been far more lethal to black lives than the KKK ever was,” Jackson says in the video.

And this, per Buzzfeed, via Political Wire: "Obama clearly has Muslim sensibilities. He sees the world and Israel from a Muslim perspective."

Politico says of what happened at the state party convention: “Virginia GOP launches tea party ticket.”

Not helping… The Washington Post: “Virginia Attorney Gen. Ken T. Cuccinelli (R) has asserted that the state’s freedom of information laws do not apply to the Office of the Attorney General, a break from past practice. While Cuccinelli’s office has continued to respond to requests for documents under the law — which says that except in certain instances, all records of public bodies should be accessible to the public — it has begun to insert new language into its responses citing a 2011 Virginia Supreme Court case to support the claim that the law does not apply to the office.”

By Carrie Dann, NBC News

A union representing 12,000 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officers will publicly oppose the Senate Gang of Eight immigration plan Monday, giving critics of the overhaul effort additional political ammunition as they work to defeat legislation working its way through the Senate Judiciary Committee.  

In a release announcing the group's opposition to the bill, National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council president Kenneth Palinkas writes that the bill would fail to address an "insurmountable bureaucracy" at the federal agency overseeing immigration documents and argues that USCIS personnel are currently "pressured to rubber stamp applications instead of conducting diligent case review and investigation."

"The culture at USCIS encourages all applications to be approved, discouraging proper investigation into red flags and discouraging the denial of any applications," he wrote in the release, expected to be publicly unveiled later Monday. 

The union joins the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council, which represents a majority of the nation's deportation agents and is one of the most vocal opponents of the bill - in its opposition to the Gang of Eight measure. 

National ICE Council president Chris Crane, an outspoken ally of bill opponents like Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, circulated a letter to Congress earlier this month arguing that the bill as written "fails to meet the needs of the law enforcement community" and would harm its public safety and national security objectives.

Palinkas writes in his organization's release that it will join as a signatory of that letter. 

The sweeping Senate legislation would create a Registered Provisional Immigrant status for which qualified undocumented immigrants would be eligible to apply after a series of border security and employment verification criteria are achieved. Critics of the bill say those security benchmarks are not stringent enough to discourage more illegal immigration to the United States. 

 

By Michael O'Brien, Political Reporter, NBC News

President Barack Obama's team emerged on Sunday to defend his handling of revelations that the IRS had targeted conservative groups for scrutiny, as senior Republicans conceded they lacked evidence — so far — that the president directed the abuses.

White House adviser Dan Pfeiffer says that although actions that need to be taken on the IRS scandal plaguing the Obama administration, the wave of recent controversies won't adversely affect the Obama administration.

Republicans appeared on the Sunday talk show circuit with hopes of sustaining their political momentum generated during this past week, one of the toughest weeks of Obama's presidency. A series of controversies — that the IRS had targeted conservative groups, new questions about the administration's response to last year's terrorist attack in Benghazi, and news that the Department of Justice seized phone records of Associated Press journalists as part of an investigation regarding national security leaks — have forced the White House onto the defensive.

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell said the IRS controversy amounted to evidence of a "culture of intimidation" by the administration. But he and Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., admitted they lacked evidence that the targeting of conservatives was ordered by the White House.

"We don't have anything to say that the president knew about this," said Camp, who chairs the House committee looking into the IRS controversy, on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky cites examples of what he sees as political maneuvering by the Obama administration.

McConnell also could not point to evidence of presidential involvement in the IRS's scrutinizing of conservatives, though the Kentucky senator argued that a need for more information justified emerging investigations into the controversy.

"I don't think we know what the facts are," he said, appearing separately on "Meet the Press" on Sunday. "The investigation has just begun, so I'm not going to reach a conclusion about what we may find."

Republicans have used the IRS controversy, along with the administration's other struggles as of late, to unify their party in Congress, and gain political traction against Obama. But their ability to sustain this momentum hinges on their ability to weave together these missteps into a more damning, overarching story about the administration.

But the White House has begun to push back. A top White House adviser, Dan Pfeiffer, emerged on Sunday to assert that the administration had handled the IRS fiasco properly.

 "There is no question that Republicans are trying to make political hay here," Pfeiffer said on "Meet the Press" of the IRS controversy.

Pfeiffer sought to undercut Republicans' criticism by asserting that Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., a top GOP critic of the administration who is in charge of White House oversight, was actually aware of an inspector general's investigation into the IRS abuses as early as last fall. To that end, Pfeiffer argued that even if the president were aware of the investigation of the IRS at an earlier point, it would have been inappropriate to become involved with or interfere with the inquiry.

Pfeiffer also sought to push back on Republican criticism of the administration's response to last year's terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, which left four Americans dead, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens. The White House aide argued that Republicans had essentially circulated "doctored" versions of emails — original copies of which the administration released this week — that they had known about for months in order to ding the administration. Pfeiffer said the ploy was a sign that Republicans were "getting desperate."

McConnell said he thought it was clear that the administration had "made up a tale" about Benghazi last fall, so close to the presidential election, because admitting to having presided over a terrorist attack would have been politically inconvenient for Obama.

"The talking points clearly were not accurate, and I think getting to the bottom of that is an important investigation," he said.

This story was originally published on Sun May 19, 2013 7:55 AM EDT

By Michael O'Brien, Political Reporter, NBC News

Following one of the most difficult weeks of President Barack Obama's presidency, Republicans will take to national television on Sunday morning looking to maintain their political momentum.

J. Scott Applewhite / AP

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., accompanied by fellow GOP leaders, talks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, July 31, 2012.

This past week was a bruising one for Obama, one that forced his White House to play defense over revelations that the IRS had targeted conservative groups, new questions about the administration's response to last year's terrorist attack in Benghazi, and news that the Department of Justice seized phone records of Associated Press journalists as part of an investigation regarding national security leaks.

Republicans, who have at times struggled to move with unity in their opposition to the president, have been rejuvenated as a result of the simultaneous controversies. A series appearances by high-profile Republicans on the Sunday talk show circuit this morning could foretell another politically tumultuous week in Washington.

The Senate's top Republican, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, will headline NBC's "Meet the Press," on which the top House Republican on tax issues, Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., will also appear. Both will almost certainly look to sustain their onslaught against the White House.

But the administration also spent the latter half of the week looking to begin playing offense on these controversies. Obama renewed his call for a federal press shield law, and he released new emails detailing his administration's initial response to the Benghazi attacks last September. And perhaps most significantly, the president announced the resignation of the acting IRS commissioner, naming a new acting commissioner, and pledging full cooperation with angered lawmakers in their investigation.

To that end, Dan Pfeiffer, a longtime senior White House aide, will also appear on "Meet the Press." But he's also scheduled to hit the entire Sunday show circuit in hopes of making the administration's case in the face of Republicans' attacks.

This story was originally published on Sun May 19, 2013 7:55 AM EDT

Obama tries to pivot from a trio of controversies, but the IRS scandal is sticking around. Work on immigration reform continues. L.A. gets a new mayor. Plus, Andy gets a summer job.

By Kasie Hunt, NBC News

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa has issued a subpoena to depose the ambassador charged with leading the review of the attack in Benghazi that killed four Americans.

Issa announced Friday that he will demand a deposition from Thomas Pickering, who along with Adm. Mike Mullen led the Accountability Review Board that did a report on security at the diplomatic post in Benghazi.

The subpoena requires Pickering to appear for a deposition on May 23.

Pickering has volunteered to testify publicly in front of the Oversight Committee. Issa says that isn't enough, and wants to interview Pickering before the committee holds a hearing with him.

In a May 16 letter to Issa, Pickering and Mullen wrote that the Oversight Committee's request for private interviews ahead of a hearing were "highly unusual in the context of senior officials who are not in fact witnesses but instead are reporting on their own independent review." 

In the letter, Pickering and Mullen said they would be willing to testify in Congress on May 28, June 3 or another date of Issa's choosing.

A request to a State Department spokesperson for comment on the subpoena was not immediately returned.