WASHINGTON, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Multiple scandals have coalesced and hit the White House like a tsunami, putting the administration of President Barack Obama on the defensive amid a rash of serious charges including spying on journalists and targeting conservative political groups.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) admitted on Friday to inappropriately targeting conservative political groups such as the Tea Party during the 2012 election cycle in a controversy that has drawn criticism from both conservative and liberal voices.
In a rare show of bipartisanship Monday that underscored the seriousness of the issue, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, said he was "troubled" over the IRS' targeting conservative groups, and vowed the Senate would investigate. Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican rising star, called for the resignation of the IRS commissioner, adding to lawmakers' growing outrage.
In a press conference Tuesday, reporters turned up the heat on the White House as they grilled Obama's spokesman Jay Carney, who repeatedly said the administration knew nothing of the issue and would wait for the release of an independent report on the scandal from the Inspector General, which is expected in the coming days.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday he ordered an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) into the matter to determine whether the IRS had broken any laws.
At the same time, journalists and lawmakers alike expressed outrage over a report that the Justice Department had been snooping on Associated Press journalists, secretly obtaining two months of its reporters' phone records, including home phones and cell phones.
Reid slammed the Justice Department Tuesday, while Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus the same day demanded Holder's resignation.
But in a press conference held on Tuesday, Holder defended the AP probe, saying that the department followed the rules.
At the White House, Carney said Obama supports the freedom of press, but added that there is a "careful balance" between press freedoms and national security interests.
Of the two scandals, the IRS imbroglio is the one most likely to hurt the president, experts said.
Republican strategist Ford O'Connell argued that unlike other points Republicans are trying to drive home, many of which are filled with difficult-to-grasp details, the IRS scandal is simple for people to understand.
Moreover, few Americans trust the IRS, and many are uncomfortable with the thought of being personally scrutinized by the powerful government agency.
"The big thing here is that if "big brother" can do this to you, what else can "big brother" do?" O'Connell told Xinhua.
"This is a huge embarrassment for the White House. If the Republicans can frame this properly, it gives them a huge 2014 issue," he said of next year's mid-term Congressional elections." There is, relatively, a universal distrust on both sides of the aisle for the IRS."
The IRS targeting of groups based on political activity is a rare but serious charge in the U.S., and former President Richard Nixon was impeached partially on grounds that he used the IRS to target his political enemies.
John Malcolm, a legal expert at the Heritage Foundation, told Xinhua there is potential for criminal prosecution in the IRS case, although there are a number of complexities involved. An IRS agent found responsible could also be sued civilly for violating the civil rights of the groups involved.
Meanwhile, Republicans continue to push for more information on the administration's handling of September's terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which ended in the deaths of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Davis.
While the White House has called the push a partisan "side show, " Republicans maintain there are many unanswered questions, and are calling for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to appear again before a Congressional hearing.
Last week, Gregory Hicks, the second-ranking American diplomat in Libya during the assault by terrorists, told a Congressional hearing that U.S. Special Operations Command Africa forbade special forces from flying to Benghazi to fight off the terrorists ' assault.
Hicks testified he was "stunned" and "embarrassed" when, in the days following the attack, UN Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice wrongly said the assault stemmed from a spontaneous demonstration sparked by an anti-Muslim video, when it was in fact a planned attack.
Critics charged the White House with attempting to avoid embarrassment in the lead-up to the 2012 presidential elections and wanting to continue its narrative that violent extremism was on the wane after U.S. forces killed terror mastermind Osama bin Laden in 2011.
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