The Obama administration, four short months into its second term, finds itself beset by three political storms.

Republicans in Congress, some Democrats and the press are pelting the White House with questions about the raid on an American post in Libya, the conduct of the Internal Revenue Service and the seizure of phone records from The Associated Press.

Taken together, the three have consumed the week in Washington. Here’s a quick guide.

BENGHAZI

The basics: Four Americans, including the ambassador to Libya, were killed in a raid on a diplomatic post in the city of Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012. The State Department ultimately determined that the raid was a series of terrorist attacks.

Republicans have made an array of accusations, including that the administration failed to send the military to help, waited too long to consistently describe the raid as a terror attack, and extensively edited talking points for media appearances.

The White House response: President Barack Obama, exasperated, dismissed the Republican furor over the talking points earlier this week as a politically motivated “sideshow.”

The administration has also said that sending the military was logistically impossible and would have left other American interests undefended. Obama said within hours of the raid that “acts of terror” would not be tolerated. On Thursday, he pledged increased security for diplomatic posts.

Accused of changing its public stance on the raid because of political reasons — the presidential election was less than two weeks away — the administration released 100 pages of emails and other documents Wednesday shedding light on how the talking points were changed.

The stakes: The political stakes are increasingly focused on Hillary Clinton’s potential run for the presidency in 2016. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. and himself a possible candidate, accused Clinton of “dereliction of duty” at a speech in Iowa over the weekend.

American Crossroads, Karl Rove’s political action committee, released an ad draping Clinton in dark shadows and grainy black-and-white photos and accusing her of a cover-up. The ad ends with an invitation to donate to American Crossroads.

What’s next: More questions from Republicans, despite the administration’s insistence that there is little if anything left to explain.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who has accused the administration of lying and believing itself to be above the law, wants to interview former Ambassador Thomas Pickering, one of the leaders of the review board.

THE IRS

The basics: Employees of the Internal Revenue Service singled out Tea Party groups and other conservative organizations for special scrutiny in reviewing applications for tax exemption.

Republicans want to know whether anyone in the administration knew about it — to date there is no evidence that they did — and have suggested the government was punishing political enemies.

The White House stance: Obama on Wednesday ousted the acting head of the IRS, Steven Miller, and said: “Americans have a right to be angry about it, and I’m angry about it.”

The president acted after a Treasury Department investigation faulted the IRS for using “inappropriate criteria” in picking which organizations to scrutinize. The report also said that “ineffective management” allowed the criteria to stay in place.

Asked Thursday whether he supported the appointment of a special prosecutor, Obama said he believed working with Congress to investigate would be sufficient.

The stakes: Republicans and Democrats alike have expressed. Republicans appear to be coalescing around an insistence that it shows a pattern of intimidation by the administration.

“The unifying themes of this town are an arrogance and view of the machinery of government to be a tool of partisanship,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas and a Tea Party favorite, said Thursday.

Besides demanding hearings, they are likely to use that argument in the 2014 midterm elections. In addition, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said that the IRS ordeal could hurt the push for immigration reform in Congress.

“We’ve already faced tremendous suspicion about the federal government’s ability or willingness to enforce the law,” Rubio said.

What’s next: Attorney General Eric Holder has pledged a nationwide investigation. Federal prosecutors are looking at potential violations of law, including civil rights statutes and a federal law that restricts political activities by federal employees.

There are at least three congressional hearings scheduled, beginning with the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday.

AP PHONE RECORDS

The basics: The Justice Department secretly seized two months of records from more than 20 telephone lines used by reporters and editors for The Associated Press last year.

The seizure was apparently connected to a federal investigation into who leaked classified information about a foiled terror plot in Yemen that the AP reported on in May 2012. The AP has angrily objected and demanded further explanation.

The White House stance: The deputy attorney general who is overseeing the investigation insisted in a letter to the AP that the seizure was limited in scope and that the content of calls was not monitored.

Holder, who has recused himself from the investigation, said Tuesday that the leak “put the American people at risk” and was among the most serious he has seen in 37 years as a prosecutor.

The stakes: Media organizations have said that the seizure will intimidate whistle-blowers. As in the IRS furor, Republicans are seeking to portray an administration bent on overreaching. Democrats have joined the criticism, too.

Sen. Jon Tester of Montana said Wednesday that the Justice Department’s steps were “a blatant violation of privacy, and directly interfere with the constitutionally protected rights of the press to do its job free from government intrusion or direction.”

What’s next: Under fire, the Obama administration is pushing to revive legislation that would enhance protections for journalists when they refuse to name confidential sources.

A White House official called Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to ask him to reintroduce the legislation, known as a media shield law. Schumer said that the bill at least would have ensured a fairer process in the AP leak.

But Obama stressed Thursday that he makes no apology for being concerned about leaks that jeopardize American missions.

This story was originally published on Thu May 16, 2013 1:35 PM EDT

President Obama won't leave the top job at the Internal Revenue Service vacant for long.

NBC News has confirmed from a senior administration official that the president plans to appoint a new acting IRS commissioner this week.  

Obama said Wednesday that he was "angry" at IRS officials who inappropriately targeted conservative groups for scrutiny when he announced that his administration had sought and accepted Steven Miller's resignation as interim commissioner of the IRS.

"I've reviewed the Treasury Department watchdog's report, and the misconduct that it uncovered was inexcusable," Obama said in a statement at the White House.

"It's inexcusable, and Americans are right to be angry about it, and I'm angry about it."

The president said that he expected the IRS to act with even higher levels of integrity than other government agencies and that, to that end, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew had sought and accepted Miller's resignation — something many Republicans had demanded.

Obama's remarks came amid news that two IRS employees who had engaged in activities targeting conservative groups had faced disciplinary action for their conduct.

The inspector general's release Monday found that incompetence and ineffective management at the tax-collecting agency led to employees' applying extra scrutiny to conservative and Tea Party advocacy groups. The report also found there was no evidence of outside pressure on officials to target conservative groups.

Related:

IRS challenges public's confidence in government

Trying to stop the bleeding

Tea Party lawmakers use IRS fiasco to ding health care reform

Reporters were evacuated from the White House on Saturday morning after an overheated transformer drew fire trucks to the West Wing.

The evacuation came after smoke was seen in a mechanical room, the Secret Service said. Multiple fire trucks raced to the building at about 7:15 a.m. Secret Service officers blocked off the entrances to the West Wing.

“The transformer problem was quickly resolved. Electricity and personnel access to the West Wing has returned to normal,” a White House official said in a statement to Reuters. “The First Family was unaffected.”

No injuries were reported.

Carolyn Kaster / AP

District of Columbia Fire department trucks and personnel respond to a call at the White House, Saturday, May 11, 2013, in Washington.

American companies have hired or trained more than 290,000 veterans and military spouses since the White House announced its "Joining Forces" campaign two years ago, and U.S. employers now have committed to supplying jobs to another 435,000 veterans over the next five years, Michelle Obama announced Tuesday.

The hires to date mean that Joining Forces — led by the first lady and Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden — has, with eight months to spare, nearly tripled its original goal to connect 100,000 unemployed veterans to paychecks by the end of 2013. 

"We know that today is not the finish line," she said. "Today is simply just a mile marker. And we’re not going to stop until every single veteran or military spouse that is searching for a job has found one."

"Across America and all around the world, our men and women in uniform and their families are standing up for us ... And in so many ways, all they’re looking for is another way to serve. All they need is that next mission. All they need is a job," she said. "You live in a grateful nation. And people will stand up." 

According to the Department of Labor, there were 783,000 veterans without jobs at the end of March. The unemployment rate for post-9/11 veterans was 9.2 percent at that time compared to the civilian unemployment rate of 7.4 percent, federal figures show. 

Companies vowing to churn up more jobs for veterans and military spouses during the next five years include: BNSF Railway (5,000 hires), UPS (25,000), Home Depot (55,000) and McDonald's (100,000), Michelle Obama said.

"Walmart is telling any veteran who has served honorably, if they want a job in the year after they separate from service, Walmart is going to hire them, and their goal is to do it within 30 days of the veteran’s application," she added. 

Complicating matters, however, are two military trends that soon may raise the current pace of veteran joblessness: More than 34,000 service members will be returning from Afghanistan during the next 12 months. In addition, President Barack Obama said Tuesday that "more than 1 million service members are going to be transitioning back to civilian life in the coming years," as the U.S. Armed Forces downsize. 

"Unfortunately, when they hit the job market, employers don’t always recognize the high-quality, high-tech skills our newest veterans have gained in the military," President Obama said. "They don’t understand the leadership they have shown under extraordinary circumstances. Too often, just when these men and women are looking to move forward in the next chapter of their lives, they’re struck in neutral, scraping together odd jobs just to paid the bills.

"If you can lead a platoon in a war zone," he added, "then I think you can lead a team in a conference center."

Related:

• Companies honored for hiring and supporting veterans
• Pentagon looks to cut up to 50,000 civilians over 5 years
• Hiring Our Heroes job fair part of week-long, national hiring push 

The specter of the bogus claims that former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction — used to justify war —  hangs over the debate on how world leaders will respond to the possibility that Syria deployed chemical weapons.

Obama administration officials say they know they have to deal with the Iraq WMD legacy and will need definitive proof to persuade Russia, Syria’s only remaining ally in the U.N. Security Council, that Bashir Assad’s regime used deadly sarin gas against the opposition in the country’s bloody two-year civil war.

One senior U.S. defense official told reporters Thursday, "We have seen very bad movies before" — referring to previous instances where initial intelligence was proven wrong.

President Barack Obama has called the use of chemical weapons by Assad, a "red line" that if crossed would be a "game-changer" in the U.S. response to Syrian aggression.

The White House said Thursday that the U.S. believes "with some degree of varying confidence" that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons — specifically the nerve agent sarin — against its own people.

A letter from the White House to members of Congress said the assessment was based on "physiological samples" but called for a United Nations probe to corroborate it and nail down when and how they were used.

"We are continuing to do further work to establish a definitive judgment as to whether or not the red line has been crossed and to inform our decision-making about what we'll do next," a White House official said.

"All options are on the table in terms of our response," the official added.

U.S. intelligence agencies say that blood samples from two attacks last month in Aleppo tested positive for sarin.

Still, those sources say there is “no absolute proof” deadly agents were deployed by Assad's troops.

Administration sources tell NBC News they still have not been able to connect all the dots to prove who actually used the chemical weapons, whom they used them against, or when or where they were used. 

Secretary of State John Kerry discussed Syria with his Russian counterpart in Brussels last week, but the Russians remain unpersuaded to take action against the Syrian government, and the international community is demanding hard evidence to prove Syria is using chemical agents.

The proof, however, could be difficult to obtain.

A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who said that the United Nations can't take action based on intelligence from one country, said a team of experts assembled to investigate chemical weapons in Syria remains "grounded" in Cyprus because the Assad regime has blocked it from entering the country.

The U.N. has repeatedly called on Syria to let its inspection team in.

"The fact-finding team is on standby and ready to deploy in 24-48 hours," the U.N. spokesman said. 

Syria's information minister, Omran al-Zoubi, said in an interview with Russian TV that the government has not and will not use chemical weapons and blamed potential evidence of their existence on "armed terrorist groups," the state news agency reported.

The chemical weapons investigation and counterclaims recall the experience in Iraq, where U.N. inspection teams were hampered in their effort to find weapons of mass destruction amid U.S. intelligence reports suggesting they were being hidden by Saddam.

It was the alleged existence of the so-called WMD the George W. Bush administration used to justify war in Iraq.

Despite a massive search by U.S. forces, no weapons of mass destruction ever turned up.

Sen. John McCain, R.-Ariz.,  was swift to react to the latest reports that Syria used chemical weapons, saying, “I think it's pretty obvious that red line has been crossed." He said the administration should now consider a military approach in Syria he has been advocating for two years that falls short of boots on the ground.

“That is to provide a safe area for the opposition to operate and  to establish a no-fly zone and provide weapons to the people in the resistance who we trust,” McCain said.

A White House official called for a high level of scrutiny, but also caution.

"Given our own history with intelligence assessments, including intelligence assessments related to weapons of mass destruction, it's very important that we are able to establish this with certainty and that we are able to present information in a way that is airtight," the official said.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Related: White House: US believes Syrian regime used chemical weapons

A mother who lost her 6-year-old son in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School made an emotional plea for national gun-control legislation in an address from the White House.

Francine Wheeler made her appeal in lieu of the president’s weekly address. Her appearance is the only time President Obama has handed the address to anyone other than Vice President Joe Biden since the two first took office. Wheeler was joined by her husband David.

“I have hear people say that the tidal wave of anguish our country felt on 12/14 has receded, but not for us,” Wheeler said. “To us it feels as if it happened just yesterday, and in the four months since we lost our loved ones, thousands of other Americans have died at the end of a gun.”

The address, taped Friday, comes as several Sandy Hook families have mounted an aggressive effort to get a gun-control bill passed by Congress. Wheeler and her husband wrote the remarks after they were approached, the White House said.

“We have to convince the Senate to come together and pass common sense gun responsibility reforms that will make our communities safer and prevent more tragedies like the one we never thought would happen to us,” Wheeler said.

Jessica Hill / AP file

Francine Wheeler, mother of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victim Benjamin Wheeler, cries as she listens to Vice President Joe Biden speak during a gun violence conference in Danbury, Conn., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013.

Family members of the Newtown victims were present on Capitol Hill Thursday when Senators voted 68-31 to move forward with the process of debating a gun bill that several Republican lawmakers had threatened to filibuster. Several Republican senators have said that the presence of Newtown families helped contribute to the unexpectedly overwhelming vote to move forward with the bill.

Among the more than a dozen relatives in the gallery was Jillian Soto, whose sister was killed at Sandy Hook.

“The tears that we had weren’t tears of joy, but tears of remembering this is happening,” Soto told NBC News shortly after the vote. “We’re here because of what happened to us.”

During her remarks, Wheeler and her husband wore green pins to commemorate the 20 schoolchildren, including their son, and six adults who died in the December shooting. The Wheelers’ older son Nate, a 4th grader at Sandy Hook, survived the shooting.

“Sometimes I close my eyes and all I can remember is that awful day waiting at the Sandy Hook volunteer firehouse for the boy who would never come home – the same firehouse that was home to Ben’s Tiger Scout Den 6,” said Wheeler, choking back tears. “But other times I feel Ben’s presence filling me with courage for what I have to do for him and all the others taken from us so violently and too soon.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related:

• Newtown passion moves Senate vote on guns
• Newtown Victim's mom to give Obama's weekly address
• Newtown families lobby for gun control

Jason Reed / Reuters file

President Obama is seen through the screen of a teleprompter as he meets members of the audience following remarks in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Jan. 25, 2012.

A Virginia man was sentenced to seven years in prison for swiping President Obama's teleprompter and a truckload full of other White House press gear.

Eric Brown pleaded guilty to theft of government property in January. The 49-year-old Richmond man had a history of drug use according to court papers, and was a suspect in about a dozen other truck thefts.  

“If I had to sum up Mr. Brown’s character, it would be that he’s a thief,” U.S. District Judge John A. Gibney said at the Thursday sentencing, according to The Associated Press.

Brown picked up the White House communications staff van from a hotel parking lot in October 2011.

The man did not immediately realize whose van he had stolen until he began unloading the vehicle, prosecutor Laura Taylor said. Brown somehow missed the presidential seals on the exterior of the truck, but realized the mess his sticky fingers had gotten him into when he discovered the teleprompter, sound system, and other press office equipment, she said.

“The theft of government property is a serious offense,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Roderick Young said. “It’s all the more serious when the property belongs to the White House Communications Agency.”

Reuters contributed to this report.

With a bipartisan group of senators expected to unveil immigration-reform legislation in the next few days, a brand-new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that nearly two-thirds of Americans – including eight-in-10 Latinos – support giving undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship.

A slight majority of Republican respondents oppose this path, possibly foreshadowing the resistance which any comprehensive immigration reform bill might receive, especially in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives.

But when Republicans hear that a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants includes paying fines and back taxes, almost three-quarters of them support the idea.

What’s more, a majority of the public – for the first time in the poll – agrees with the statement that immigration strengthens the nation, reflecting a shift in attitude on this issue. 

Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who conducted this survey with the Democratic firm Hart Research Associates, says that this change in sentiment on immigration “speaks to something potent,” particularly given the economic struggles of the past five years.

"These more positive attitudes provide more leeway for lawmakers to build support for change on this issue," McInturff adds.

View the poll results here

On other matters, the poll shows a majority of the public favors stricter gun laws, President Barack Obama’s approval rating falling below 50 percent for the first time since Oct. 2012, and fewer than two-in-10 Americans saying the automatic budget cuts known as “the sequester” have significantly affected them.

Immigration – a strength or weakness?
A majority (54 percent) agrees with the statement that immigration adds to the nation’s character and strengthens it by bringing diversity and talent to the country.

Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images

Tens of thousands of immigration reform supporters march in the "Rally for Citizenship" on the West Lawn of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on April 10, 2013.

In a 2010 NBC/WSJ survey, fewer than half of respondents agreed with that statement, and in 2005, a plurality said that immigration weakened the nation.

Additionally, the Democratic Party holds a 7-point advantage over the Republican Party on the question of which party does a better job in dealing with immigration.

Among an oversample of Latino respondents, the Democratic edge increases to 26 points.

Regarding the current legislative debate over immigration, 64 percent of respondents say they favor allowing undocumented immigrants to have the opportunity to become legal American citizens.

That includes 82 percent of Latinos, 80 percent of Democrats and 54 percent of political independents supporting a path to citizenship.

But 51 percent of Republicans oppose it, versus 47 percent who back it.

Yet when told that the pathway to citizenship would require paying fines and back taxes, as well as passing a security-background check, support grows – with 76 percent of total respondents, and 73 percent of Republicans backing the path.

That pathway to citizenship is the heart of a comprehensive immigration reform proposal that the so-called “Gang of Eight” senators – including Democrats Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin and Republicans John McCain and Marco Rubio – are drafting and plan to introduce in the next few days.

The proposal also calls for strengthening the U.S.-Mexico border, tying that security to establishing the path to citizenship and expanding legal immigration.

A majority of all respondents (51 percent) believe undocumented immigrants should be eligible for citizenship five years after application. Just 12 percent say the eligibility should occur after 10 years, and only 18 percent believe citizenship should be immediate.

On border security, nearly two-thirds of Americans (63 percent) think the U.S.-Mexico border is “mostly” or “totally” not secure, compared with a smaller percentage of Latino respondents (49 percent) who believe that.

55 percent favor stricter gun laws
In addition to immigration, Congress is grappling with the issue of gun control, with the Senate expected to vote on Thursday whether to begin debate on a Democratic-backed measure requiring background checks for most gun sales.

According to the poll, 55 percent favor stricter laws covering the sale of firearms.

That’s down 6 points from the Feb. 2013 NBC/WSJ poll – conducted after Obama’s State of the Union address that contained a call to action on gun control – but it’s essentially unchanged from the Jan. 2013 poll.

Yet there’s a wide political divide to these numbers: 82 percent of Democrats favor stricter gun laws, while just 27 percent of Republicans do.

Obama’s approval rating drops to 47 percent
Despite majorities backing the broad outlines of his legislative priorities on immigration and guns, President Obama confronts a pessimistic public and declining poll numbers.

Only 31 percent of Americans believe the country is headed in the right direction – a decline of 10 points since Dec. 2012.

His overall job-approval rating stands at 47 percent, which is down 3 points since February and which represents the first time he’s been below 50 percent since just before the 2012 election.

In addition, 47 percent approve of the president’s economic handling (up three points from February), and 46 percent approve of his handling of foreign policy (down six from Dec. 2012).

Democratic pollster Fred Yang of Hart Research says that the public’s sour attitude, particularly on the economy, has “dragged down” Obama’s numbers.

Sequester’s limited impact (so far)
Lastly, the NBC/WSJ poll finds that only a combined 16 percent of Americans say the automatic across-the-board budget cuts that went into effect earlier in the year have impacted them either “a great deal” or “quite a bit.”

By comparison, a whopping 75 percent say the cuts to military and non-military programs have affected them “just some” or “not much.”

But a plurality of respondents – 47 percent – believe the cuts will mostly harm the economy, versus 30 percent who say they won’t have an impact.

The NBC/WSJ poll was conducted of 1,000 adults (including 300 cell phone-only respondents) from April 5-8, and it has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 3.1 percentage points.

Courtesy Pendleton Family / Zuma Press, file

Hadiya Pendleton, who performed last week at President Barack Obama's inaugural festivities, was shot and killed in Chicago in January when a gunman opened fire on a group of students.

The White House might be celebrating Easter today, but for many, including the family of slain teen Hadiya Pendleton, the real celebration begins Monday at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll.

The First Lady reportedly invited Cleopatra Cowley-Pendleton and her 10-year-old son Nathaniel to the White House event, just one of many events the family has attended since the January slaying of their beloved 15-year-old daughter just one week after she performed at events for President Obama's second inauguration.

The crowd of more than 35,000 guests will gather Monday on the South Lawn for games, stories and of course the egg roll.

Read more at NBCChicago.com

The event will feature celebs like Jordin Sparks, Coco Jones, Austin Mahone and special guest Robby Movak, also known as Kid President.

With the theme “Be Healthy, Be Active, Be You!” the event will also feature a string of celebrity athletes from across the country, including NASCAR’s Danica Patrick, Minnesota Viking Adrian Peterson and Olympians and Paralympians.

The event will live stream online for those who weren’t able to purchase tickets.

As Republicans continue to blast the White House for canceling tours due to the sequester’s budget impact, the United States Secret Service is offering further explanation about its decision to nix the visits for tourists beginning this weekend.

According to an official who broke down the numbers for NBC News, there are 37 Secret Service officers staffed for tours. They each get paid $50 per hour for eight-hour shifts. These officers work five days a week, adding up to a savings of $74,000 per week that the tours are off.

That comes to almost $2 million before the end of this fiscal year. 

The Office of Management and Budget has calculated that the Secret Service may need to cut as much as $84 million from its budget due to the sequestration cuts. Last March, the service requested a budget of $1.6 billion for fiscal year 2013.

GOP lawmakers have painted the decision to call off tours due to the sequester as a publicity stunt.

As a press conference this morning, House Speaker John Boehner again called the White House’s move “silly” and invited visitors to Washington to tour the Capitol in lieu of the president’s famous home.

"Even though our budget's been cut, like everyone else's, thanks to proper planning, we're able to avoid furloughs amongst Capitol workers, and tours are going to remain available for all Americans," he said.  "I think it's disappointing that the Obama administration didn't follow our lead and find savings in other parts of their budget."

NBC's Carrie Dann contributed to this report.