Updated at 2:45 p.m. ET: Republican lawmakers tried Tuesday to tie the spending scandal at the General Services Administration to the White House, pressing current and former agency officials to explain why they met with senior administration officials two weeks before disciplining most of the implicated officials.

At a congressional hearing Tuesday, former GSA Administrator Martha Johnson acknowledged that she met with several top White House officials — including chief of staff Jack Lew and Personnel Director Nancy Hogan — as early as mid-March about the scandal.

Johnson put Region 9 Public Building Regional Commissioner Jeffrey Neely on leave on March 19. But she didn't resign and discipline other top agency officials until the GSA's inspector general officially released a report April 2 documenting lavish spending for a Las Vegas conference in 2010 that cost $823,000.

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The GSA, which manages federal properties, is also being investigated for how resources were spent on other outings and conferences, including trips to Hawaii, Atlanta and Napa, Calif., and an interns' conference in Palm Springs, Calif., attended by 150 people.

Neely, the official at the center of the scandal, wasn't present at Tuesday's hearing. On Monday, Neely repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Ex-GSA head apologizes for $823,000 Las Vegas spending spree

As Republicans tried to suggest a cover-up by the White House, Johnson testified Tuesday that she never spoke to President Barack Obama, but she said she did have "informational" meetings with other top administration officials the weeks of March 18 and March 25.

Besides Lew and Hogan, officials from the White House counsel's office and the president's communications staff attended some of those meetings, Johnson said.

"Those meetings were about policy," Johnson told Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., head of the Transportation subcommittee on public buildings. "We wanted to talk with them about travel policy, because obviously they are interested in how we can move forward after this event."

Denham pressed Johnson to explain why it took "all the way up to April 2nd" to fire Stephen Leeds, her chief counsel, and Bob Peck, head of the public building department, and "to put all of the other administrators on leave."

"I was working particularly with our HR (human resources) senior executives and a senior executive in the general counsel's office to understand what was the particular evidence that the IG had uncovered and how we could fit that into letters of admonishment and what kinds of disciplinary action we could take," Johnson replied, adding that "there's a due process here that we needed to follow."

In an interview with CNN before the hearing, Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, made it clear that Republicans believe "people did let the White House know, and the White House did not choose to intervene or to take action early on."

But Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., ranking Democrat on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee and a member of Mica's committee, pointed out that it was a Democratic appointee,  Deputy GSA Administrator Susan Brita, "who brought this to light."

Neely and others implicated in the scandal "will be brought to justice and be made to pay back the money they owe the taxpayers," Cummings said in an interview with NBC News' Andrea Mitchell.

Mica said he and Denham were examining whether the GSA's culture of squandering could be purged or whether the agency — "our government's landlord" — should be replaced.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat who represents the District of Columbia, disagreed with Denham and Mica, saying, "GSA serves an indispensable function."

That's what makes the investigation "such a difficult matter," said Norton, who was lampooned in a widely circulated video the GSA made at the conference.

In his opening statement, Peck said the Las Vegas conference was an "aberration" and that most conferences he attended weren't lavish. He said he paid for some food out of his pocket in Las Vegas.

Peck also offered a personal apology and said he wouldn't shirk responsibility.

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The head of the U.S. agency that provides products and services to support the federal government resigned Monday, after the agency’s inspector general reported excessive spending at a training conference in Las Vegas that included line items such as "mind reader," and "clown," according to a story first reported by The Washington Post.

GSA administrator Martha Johnson tendered her letter of resignation to the White House Monday and two of her deputies were forced out — Public Buildings Service chief Robert A. Peck and Johnson's top adviser, Stephen Leeds, White House officials told the Post. Four GSA employees who organized the four-day conference have been placed on administrative leave pending further action.

The report released Monday by the inspector general details the outlays at a GSA training conference for 300 employees held at a luxury hotel near Las Vegas in October 2010 that cost more than $835,000.

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The costs included $147,000 in airfare and rooms at the hotel for six planning trips by a team of organizers. They also paid $3,200 for a mind reader and $75,000 on a training exercise to build a bicycle and $6,300 on commemorative coin sets.

In her resignation letter, Johnson said that the agency had made a "significant mis-step," in which "taxpayer dollars were squandered." She said she had launched an internal review, taken disciplinary action and instituted tough new controls to prevent similar problems in the future.

She resigned, "so that the agency can move forward at this time with a fresh leadership team," according to her letter.

Johnson was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate as head of the GSA on Feb. 5, 2010.

The GSA manages contracts for government needs such as transportation, office space and communications. It is also tasked with developing cost-minimizing policies for the federal government.

White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew said in a statement that President Obama learned of the inspector general’s findings prior to his recent trip to South Korea, "and he was outraged by the excessive spending, question questionable dealings with contractors, and disregard for taxpayer dollars."

"He called for all those responsible to be held fully accountable given that these actions were irresponsible and entirely inconsistent with the expectations that he has set as president," the statement said.

The Repulican chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee responded to the news with a statement linking the spending scandal to administration policies.

"After President Obama lectured the private sector about not wasting funds on Las Vegas conventions, it's hypocritical that such a large agency with critical management responsibilities across government would hold this luxurious conference at the height of the recession and even spend thousands on custom made coins touting the stimulus," said a statement from Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. 

"Employees congratulating themselves and promoting one of the most politically controversial initiatives of this Administration with taxpayer funds is indicative of the waste that exists in a bloated federal government."

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