Obama calls for sweeping changes at IRS in light of scandal

Washington's top tax official was fired Wednesday as President Barack Obama sought to stem a rising tide of criticism over the IRS' targeting of conservative groups for special scrutiny.

Seeking to confront a series of controversies that have threatened his second-term agenda, Obama said new leadership was needed to restore public confidence in the IRS.

The president said Treasury Secretary Jack Lew had asked for and accepted acting director Steven Miller's resignation in hopes of restoring confidence in the agency going forward, and he promised to work with Congress to institute new safeguards.

"The misconduct that happened is inexcusable," he said.

Obama's news conference capped a long day of work for his administration that had to answer for numerous scandals.

The White House released 100 pages of emails detailing discussion inside the administration over last year's deadly attacks on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.

Obama has faced GOP criticism that his administration covered up details of the assault, especially after a news report last week said memos on the incident were edited to omit a CIA warning of an al-Qaida threat.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Eric Holder was on the hot seat in for the Justice Department's secret acquisition of phone records from The Associated Press.

Holder, testifying before a House of Representatives panel, provided limited responses on the issue.