By David Sherfinski  

An IRS supervisor working in Washington, D.C., told congressional investigators that she personally reviewed “between 20 and 30″ applications from political groups applying for tax-exempt status.

The testimony seemingly contradicts a previous claim that the agency’s additional scrutiny of conservative groups was confined to its Cincinnati office, but does not providing the “smoking gun” some Republicans are looking for to tie the scandal directly to the White House.

Holly Paz, who had been a supervisor in the IRS’s tax-exempt status division, indicated during an interview with congressional investigators that she did review such applications, but indicated she believed “tea party” meant political advocacy in general – not necessarily only conservative groups.

“Is it your understanding that despite use of this term ‘Tea Party,’ they were still reviewing the cases for political advocacy in general, regardless of political leaning?” she was asked.

“That’s my understanding,” she replied.

Ms. Paz said she did not believe there was any overt political motivation influencing the delays in applications for groups between 2010 and 2012. Many conservative and tea party groups are still waiting for their applications to be ruled on, and many objected to the extensive questioning they faced from IRS officials after they applied.

But Elizabeth Hofacre, the IRS manager of the “Tea Party portfolio” in 2010, said that when she got cases of organizations that may have supported liberal or progressive causes, she “just sent those back to the specialists or the general inventory.”

Rep. Elijah Cummings, Maryland Democrat and the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, criticized committee Chairman Darrell Issa, California Republican, for leaking “cherry-picked excerpts” of transcripts from the investigation, even though the testimony showed “no White House involvement whatsoever in the identification and screening of these cases.”

Mr. Cummings has called on Mr. Issa to release full transcripts of witness interviews from the investigation thus far, but Mr. Issa wrote in a letter to the ranking member that limited testimony releases “serve to empower other witnesses to become whistleblowers and serve to vindicate individuals who have been subjected to criticism or retaliation at the hands of their managers. … On the other hand, if a full transcript were released, it would serve as a roadmap of the Committee’s investigation.”

Mr. Cummings shot back by asking whether it’s more reckless “to leak cherry-picked excerpts that omit key details and hide the full truth.”

“Chairman Issa should not be afraid to let the American people see all of the transcripts so they can make their own judgment,” he said.

Mr. Issa’s committee has launched a joint investigation into the matter with the House Ways and Means Committee.

Lois Lerner, director of tax-exempt organizations for the IRS, testified last month before the Oversight committee that she had done nothing wrong, and then invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Ms. Lerner tried to stop the Cincinnati field office’s targeting of tea party and other right-leaning groups by directing specialists in 2011 to broaden their criteria so that it did not appear partisan, according to an audit by J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration.

Yet the audit says the behavior resurfaced and had to be fixed once more in May 2012.

Ms. Lerner apologized at a May event hosted by the American Bar Association for burdening the conservative groups from early 2010 to May 2012, an admission that set off a firestorm on Capitol Hill.

The announcement – staged through a prearranged question from the audience – was made days before the inspector general released the audit that critics said confirmed Republican lawmakers’ suspicions in 2012 that conservative groups had been singled out.

The inspector general said the IRS gave special scrutiny to applications for tax-exempt status filed by groups that had “tea party,” “patriot” or “9/12″ in their names. The IRS is holding up dozens of those applications, some of which were filed three years ago.

The scandal has drawn bipartisan criticism, and President Obama’s job approval numbers have taken a tumble as it’s unfolded.

His approval rating, according to a CNN poll released Monday, now sits at 45 percent – down from 53 percent in May. What’s more, 50 percent of those polled do not think Mr. Obama is “honest and trustworthy,” compared to 49 percent who think those qualities apply to him. In May, 58 percent said he was honest and trustworthy and 41 percent said he was not.

The margin of error for the poll of 1,014 adults conducted June 11-13 is plus or minus 3 percentage points.