'This Week' Transcript: White House Senior Adviser Dan Pfeiffer

Dan Pfeiffer is interviewed on 'This Week'

ByABC News
May 17, 2013, 5:53 PM

NEW YORK, May 19, 2013— -- A rush transcript of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" airing on Sunday morning, May 19, 2013 on ABC News is below. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Good morning and welcome to This Week. Damage control.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Americans have a right to be angry about it, and I am angry about it.

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STEPHANOPOULOS: A trio of scandals.

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BOEHNER: My question is, who is going to jail?

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STEPHANOPOULOS: Tension on Capitol Hill.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

BOUSTANY: Why did you mislead the American people on this?

MILLER: Mr. Chairman, I did not mislead Congress, nor the American people.

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STEPHANOPOULOS: Is this the toughest week yet for the White House?

(START VIDEO CLIP)

RUBIO: These are the tactics for the third world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(START VIDEO CLIP)

CARNEY: He made clear that he thought it was an outrage, and he has taken action.

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STEPHANOPOULOS: After days of disclosures and dismissals, has the president's team turned the corner? Where will Congress go next? We'll ask the top White House strategist and key lawmakers from both parties. Plus...

(START VIDEO CLIP)

BACHMANN: There isn't a weekend that hasn't gone by, that someone says to me, why aren't you impeaching the president?

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STEPHANOPOULOS: With the administration under fire, will the GOP go too far? We'll sort through all of the political and policy fallout on our Powerhouse Roundtable.

ANNOUNCER: From ABC News, This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Reporting from ABC News Headquarters, George Stephanopoulos.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Hello again. The Washington scandal factory kicked into high gear this week with jobs lost, lawyers hired, witnesses grilled, and outrage all round. As investigations intensify into IRS wrongdoing, the tragedy and Benghazi and the seizure of reporters phone records by the Justice Department. We're going to take a close look today at where this is all headed starting with the strategist at the center of White House damage control, Dan Pfeiffer.

Dan, thanks for coming back to This Week.

PFEIFFER: George, thanks for having me.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's talk about the IRS first, and just get some actual questions on the table. You and others have said that no one in the White House knew about IRS actions before getting the heads up on the inspector general's report last month. Are you absolutely sure of that?

PFEIFFER: Yes, that is -- that is -- that's what we've looked at. That's what we know. That's the first we've heard of it, and you know as -- as it's been said, the -- the deputy secretary of the Treasury was made aware, just of the fact that the investigation was beginning last year. But no one in the White House was aware. It's important to know what we -- what we actually knew, which is just that there was an investigation that was coming to conclusion, that that we knew the results. We didn't see the report until it was released last Wednesday.

STEPHANOPOULOS: That was -- until last Wednesday. So, last June, Neal Wolin, the Deputy Treasury Secretary is told. As far as you know, he did not tell his boss, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, and Geithner did not tell the White House?

PFEIFFER: That is correct.