Former senior Obama aide David Plouffe took a pointed shot at House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R- Calif.) on Twitter Sunday, invoking embarrassing episodes from the congressman's past after he accused the White House of lying about the IRS.
Plouffe's "grand theft auto" ad hominem refers to larceny charges the congressman faced in 1972 for allegedly stealing a Maserati sports car. The charges were eventually dropped. The "arson" claim, meanwhile, dates back to a 1982 fire that torched a warehouse Issa used to store electronics from his car-alarm business. Investigators at the time deemed the fire "suspicious," but Issa was never charged with fraud, and eventually settled with the insurance company out of court.
Plouffe's antagonism comes in response to the suggestion by Issa on Sunday that the White House has distorted the truth about its involvement in the targeting of conservative groups by the IRS. Issa singled out White House spokesman Jay Carney, calling him a "paid liar" for attributing responsibility for the scandal to "rogue" employees in the agency's Cincinnati office.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified Plouffe as a senior Obama aide. Plouffe was a senior White House adviser, but left that post in January.
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