The Ranking Democrat of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee tried to disrupt the committee’s investigation of the IRS scandal last night by releasing the full transcript of a single investigative interview onto the Internet, according to Committee Chairman, Republican Darrell Issa. Issa has launched a forceful attack on Maryland Democrat Elijah Cummings, accusing Cummings of providing a “roadmap” to IRS officials seeking to “navigate” the investigation. The full text of Issa’s statement is below:

Issa Statement on Cummings’ Decision to Post IRS Investigative Interview Transcript on the Internet

June 18, 2013

WASHINGTON – House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) issued the following statement on Ranking Member Elijah Cummings’ announced intention to post the full investigative interview of IRS employee John Shafer on the Internet in the middle of an ongoing investigation into the facts and origins of IRS efforts to target Tea Party groups:

“I am deeply disappointed that Ranking Member Cummings has decided to broadly disseminate and post online a 205 page transcript that will serve as a roadmap for IRS officials to navigate investigative interviews with Congress. After unsuccessfully trying to convince the American people that IRS officials in Washington did not play a role in inappropriate scrutiny of Tea Party groups and declaring on national television that the case of IRS targeting was ‘solved’ and Congress should ‘move on,’ this looks like flailing. Americans who think Congress should investigate IRS misconduct should be outraged by Mr. Cummings’ efforts to obstruct needed oversight.

“In the course of this fact based inquiry, Ranking Member Cummings has wrongly argued that questions about IRS conduct are somehow not legitimate. His own previous release of excerpts from this very same transcript undermines his claims that the Committee is somehow trying to keep some specific revelation from public view.”