Carter Hull, the Washington-based IRS lawyer who oversaw targeting of conservative groups beginning in 2010, will retire this summer.

Hull was fingered in interviews with two IRS employees as the overseer of the agency’s improper targeting of conservative groups beginning in 2010.

“I was essentially a front person, because I had no autonomy or no authority to act on [applications] without Carter Hull’s influence or input,” Elizabeth Hofacre, an employee of the IRS’ Cincinnati office, told congressional investigators, according to Hofacre’s interview with congressional investigators.

Hull provided Hofacre a sample letter requesting additional information to send to Tea Party groups in March 2010, after Hofacre appealed to the IRS’ Washington headquarters for help with new applications from Tea Party groups for tax-exempt nonprofit status.

As The Daily Caller reported, Hull signed a letter dated April 21, 2010 to the Albuquerque Tea Party requesting additional information related to its tax-exempt application.

It is unclear at this time whether Hull, an elderly Maryland resident and longtime IRS employee, was planning to retire anyway.

Hull’s Facebook page has been removed since Thursday’s revelation that Hull was responsible for overseeing the improper targeting.

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