She assumed the role of president and CEO of the American Red Cross on June 23, 2008, replacing Mark W. Everson, a former IRS commissioner and becoming the seventh chief in seven years.

The IRS commissioner, Donald C. Alexander, refused to launch audits of the people on the list.

According to the NYT and LAT , the key legislative adjustment was allowing the president to retain the power to appoint the IRS commissioner.

And MacDonald's story reported that the Kennedys' IRS dragnet targeted for audits non-partisan groups, such as B'nai B'rith, the Daughters of Zion and the Daughters of the American Revolution, in a bid to not appear politically biased, according to the article's quotes from Kennedy's IRS commissioner Mortimer Caplin.

Miller became acting IRS commissioner on November 9, 2012, the day after Barack Obama was elected to a second term when Doug Shulman stepped down saying he did not want a second five-year term.

The LAT says the apology offered by the acting IRS commissioner leaves "little doubt about the veracity of the allegations."

In 2010, even the IRS commissioner admitted to using a tax preparer because he found the tax code "complex" [source: C-SPAN].

A New York Times article says that Scientologists paid private investigators to obtain compromising material on the IRS commissioner and blackmailed the IRS into submission.