Irs officials in DC scrutinized dozens of applications from Tea Party and other conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, contradicting the agency’s claim that it was a rogue unit in Cincinnati that mishandled the requests, congressional testimony reveals.

Holly Paz, a former deputy in the division that handles applications for tax-exempt status, told congressional investigators she reviewed 20 to 30 applications, a transcript shows.

But she provided no evidence that top IRS officials ordered the targeting of conservative groups or that anyone in the Obama administration was involved.

Paz said that IRS supervisors in DC worked with field agents but that they didn’t fully know what those agents were doing. She said that agents talked of handling “Tea Party” cases but that she thought the term was shorthand for all politically active groups.

Paz was among the first IRS employees to be interviewed in a joint investigation by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee.

The IRS declined comment.