In late April, the IRS told the Treasury that senior tax official Lois Lerner was considering making a speech in which she would make a public apology for inappropriate conduct at the IRS in advance of an inspector general report documenting how tax agency officials gave extra scrutiny to conservative groups.

“Treasury expressed some concern about the idea of a speech, but ultimately deferred to the IRS on that issue,” the Treasury official said Monday.

Also in late April, the IRS told Treasury that acting commissioner Steven Miller, whose resignation was announced last week, would apologize for the actions when asked in a forthcoming congressional testimony. Treasury did not offer a view of what IRS should do, the official said.

In both of these cases, Treasury discussed the potential disclosures with the White House and said that the department planned to defer to the IRS.