Dan Quayle: IRS Scandal 'Bigger Than We Know'

Former Vice President Dan Quayle said Thursday that the targeting of conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service is "bigger than what we know today."

"There's a lot more information to come out," Quayle, who served under George H.W. Bush, told Neil Cavuto on Fox News. "It seems to be coming out drip by drip by drip, which you don't want.

"Because once a problem happens, what you want to do is to get everybody together who has pertinent information, get together and get it all out," he said.

The IRS is under fire for singling out groups with such words as "tea party" and "patriot" in their names for additional scrutiny of its applications for tax-exempt status. The 501(c)(4) status allows the groups to keep their donors private.

The ousted head of the IRS, Steven Miller, apologized for treating the conservative groups differently in testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee, calling it "horrible customer service."

Miller, who had been a deputy commissioner whose portfolio included the unit that made decisions about tax-exempt status, was briefed about the practice by IRS officials after May 2012.

And Lois Lerner, who oversaw the IRS division that targeted the groups, was placed on administrative leave because of the scandal. She invoked her Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination last week, refusing to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is investigating the matter.

The tea party and conservative groups were subjected to the additional scrutiny through the 2012 election and as far back as 2010.

Earlier this week, 25 of those groups representing 15 states sued the IRS in federal court in Washington, contending their applications were "unlawfully delayed and obstructed" for reasons solely having to do with their ideology.

Besides the IRS, Miller, and Lerner, the other defendants named in the lawsuit include Attorney General Eric Holder and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.

"We will find out more and more as time goes on," Quayle told Cavuto. "You know the whole Washington scandal [thing]: It's not the act itself, it's the cover-up. Everybody's trying to cover their tracks right now. We have not seen everything."

He suspects the White House may eventually name a special prosecutor to investigate the scandal, easing some of the pressure.

"When the heat really gets hot, and they realize that this is a real serious story, and they appoint a special prosecutor, the special prosecutor gives the White House some breathing room, because it shuts everything down."

The former vice president and Indiana senator said, however, that the attacks on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, remained the largest scandal currently facing the Obama White House.

"It really does come to manipulating intelligence and trying to mislead the American people," Quayle said. "There is no doubt about that."

He believes President Barack Obama knew the attacks, which killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans on Sept. 11, 2012, were acts of terrorism.

"You're not out of the loop on Benghazi. An American ambassador and three other Americans were killed. You know what’s going on -- and you know what your spokespeople are going to say that weekend. He knew what they were going to say."

Quayle was referring to U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, who appeared on five Sunday morning talk shows five days after the attack -- working from talking points that were heavily edited largely at the request of the State Department -- and said that the assaults began as a peaceful protest against an anti-Muslim film that was later "hijacked" by militants.

He added that the White House was not wrong to edit Rice's talking points. “That's what you're supposed to do."