Former Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon Ben Carson reportedly got a surprise visit from the IRS after he sharply criticized Washington public policy, including Obamacare, at a gathering that included President Barack Obama.
Carson told business leaders and elected officials in Alabama on Monday night that his first-ever "encounter" with the agency followed his fiery speech at a National Prayer Breakfast in February,
Yellow Hammer News reported.
The February speech went viral on YouTube because the biting critique of major White House policies, including taxation and Obamacare, was calmly delivered with Obama sitting just a few feet away,
The Daily Caller reported Tuesday.
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Although the speech made him a conservative darling, it apparently earned him a little attention from the taxman as well. The embattled agency came under attack just three months later, in May, when it was accused of singling out tea party groups for scrutiny.
Carson never divulged the outcome of his visit from the IRS.
The scandal-scarred IRS, however, continues to be very much on the minds of Americans,
a new poll showed.
According to Rasmussen's survey, most Americans think the IRS broke the law by targeting tea party groups for harassment, but few expect it to be punished.
Fifty-three percent think the IRS broke the law by targeting the tea party and other conservative groups, like the voter-integrity organization True The Vote; 24 percent disagreed. But only 17 percent said it is even somewhat likely that anyone will be charged, while 74 percent said criminal charges are unlikely.
Veteran IRS official Lois Lerner retired last month amid congressional investigations into the
conservative targeting by the taxman.
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