Politico Reporter: IRS Targeting of Tea Party 'Easily Influenced' 2012 Election

PRESS: So, Lauren, you've been covering this IRS scandal. How big is it really? How serious is it really, do you think?

FRENCH: I think it's really serious, depending on the groups that were targeted, you could say that this easily influenced the 2012 election. A lot of these groups' applications were delayed to the point that they weren't able to get their tax-exempt status until after the election and depending ...

PRESS (interrupting): Do you really believe that?

FRENCH: I think that you should be able to, if you are following the rules, partake in the political process and the IRS and the government shouldn't hold you back. I think that that's a very fair way to look at this. So, whether or not these groups were going to spend a lot of money or really be the top five of these non-profit groups is a different matter. A lot of these groups actually are really small, but if they have the right, they have the legal right to partake in the election and they should be allowed to. And I think it depends, really, I mean, we're seeing kind of a drip-drop out of the White House and out of the IRS of who knew what and when, which is something I have been covering, of when was Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin first told. And as of right now, all we know is that neither the Obama administration or the White House or the Treasury, no one knew before 2013 about the results of this audit. But if we find out that key administration people outside of the IRS knew about it, that's going to have a significant effect on this scandal. It's going to turn it into a whole different direction.

From the Inspector General Report:

Many organizations waited much longer than 13 months for a decision, while others have yet to receive a decision from the IRS. For example, as of December 17, 2012, the IRS had been processing several potential political cases for more than 1,000 calendar days. Some of these organizations received requests for additional information in Calendar Year 2010 and then did not hear from the IRS again for more than a year while the Determinations Unit waited for assistance from the Technical Unit. For the 296 potential political cases we reviewed, as of December 17, 2012, 108 applications had been approved, 28 were withdrawn by the applicant, none had been denied, and 160 cases were open from 206 to 1,138 calendar days (some crossing two election cycles). (emphasis added)