Tag: IRS

The IRS official who released the confidential tax information of conservative groups to a left-leaning news organization has been promoted.

10:04 am

Working for the Democratic Party: The IRS official who illegally released the confidential tax information of conservative groups to a left-leaning news organization has been promoted.

Light will be replaced by Cindy Thomas, a 35-year IRS veteran who ran the Exempt Organizations office in Cincinnati throughout the 2-year period that conservative groups were targeted. “Cindy brings a strong background in EO Determinations and the history of the organization,” Corbin told employees. “And, since she is located in Cincinnati, she will provide a voice for the process and challenges faced in determinations work.” Thomas’s promotion will not be without controversy, given that, in November of last year, she signed off on the illegal release to the left-leaning ProPublica, of nine pending, confidential applications for tax exemption filed by conservative groups. One of those organizations, the Colorad-based Citizens Awareness Project, yesterday filed a federal lawsuit against the IRS over the release of its application.

Boy, Barack Obama is really hunting down those rogue IRS agents in Cincinnati and teaching them a lesson for harassing his conservative opponents.

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An IRS agent admitted this week in testimony to a House committee that the IRS is still harassing conservatives, three months after the targeting was revealed.

3:04 pm

Working for the Democratic Party: An IRS agent admitted this week in testimony to a House committee that the IRS is still harassing conservatives, three months after the targeting was revealed.

I am not surprised. Obama, and his Democratic cronies, want this harassment of their opponents to continue. They want to use the vast and powerful machinery of the federal government in any way possible to hinder any opposition to their power and control.

As I’ve said earlier, they are jack-booted thugs, nothing more, nothing less.

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New evidence strongly suggests that the IRS’s harassment of conservative groups is continuing, despite the on-going Congressional investigations.

9:39 am

New evidence strongly suggests that the IRS’s harassment of conservative groups is continuing, despite the on-going Congressional investigations.

The IRS’ infamous Cincinnati office, which handles applications from groups applying for tax-exempt nonprofit status, badgered pro-life groups for information on their protesting activities as recently as late June 2013, well after IRS investigations began on the floor of the House of Representatives and elsewhere. “We’ve had three more groups come to us that have had problems with the IRS — some very recent, some current or still pending. One of them just got their determination letter,” Peter Breen, senior counsel at the Thomas More Society, which represents pro-life groups targeted by the IRS, told The Daily Caller. “It’s continuing, and it needs to be addressed.”

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Emails between IRS official Lois Lerner and an attorney in the Federal Election Commission’s general counsel’s office show them twice colluding to illegally influence the FEC to prosecute conservative groups.

9:53 am

Working for the Democratic Party: Emails between IRS official Lois Lerner and an attorney in the Federal Election Commission’s general counsel’s office show them twice colluding to illegally influence the FEC to prosecute conservative groups.

The timing of the correspondence between Lerner and the FEC suggests the FEC attorney sought information from the IRS in order to influence an upcoming vote by the six FEC commissioners. The FEC received a complaint in March 2008 from the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor Party alleging that the American Future Fund had violated campaign-finance law by engaging in political advocacy without registering as a political-action committee. The American Future Fund responded to that complaint in June 2008, telling the commission that it had applied for tax exemption in March of that year and was a “501(c)(4) social-welfare organization that was organized to provide Americans with a conservative and free-market viewpoint and mechanism to communicate and advocate on the issues that most interest and concern them.” According to the e-mail correspondence, a month after receiving the American Future Fund’s response, the FEC general counsel’s office — which is prohibited under law from conducting an investigation into an organization before the FEC’s six commissioners have voted to do so — contacted Lerner to investigate the agency’s tax-exempt status. [emphasis mine]

Simply put, the law states that when the FEC receives a complaint, the commission must then decide whether to initiate an investigation. Until it does so, however, it is a crime for the FEC’s general counsel to do any investigation. It is also a crime for the IRS to provide them any confidential tax information. Yet, the FEC’s general counsel did do an investigation on at least two conservative groups prior to a vote and Lois Lerner at the IRS provided them what they wanted, all illegally.

It appears that for justice to be served and for trust to be restored to these bureaucracies a lot of people need to be fired. Unfortunately, I do not expect that to happen. The Democrats clearly want to take advantage of this corrupt bureaucracy to wield power and destroy their enemies, and the Republicans are too wimpy to fight back. The result: The corruption and abuse of power will continue to happen, and it will happen with increasing aggressiveness against conservatives.

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Two days before IRS White House appointee William Wilkins established the guidelines for reviewing IRS applications of conservatives, he met with Obama.

9:02 am

Working for the Democratic Party: Two days before IRS White House appointee William Wilkins established the guidelines for reviewing IRS applications of conservatives, he met with Obama.

IRS chief counsel William Wilkins, who was named in House Oversight testimony by retiring IRS agent Carter Hull as one of his supervisors in the improper targeting of conservative groups, met with Obama in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on April 23, 2012. Wilkins’ boss, then-IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman, met with Obama on April 24, 2012, according to White House visitor logs.

On April 25, 2012, Wilkins sent Hull and fellow Washington-based IRS official Lois Lerner “additional comments on the draft guidance” for approving or denying tea party tax-exempt applications, according to the IRS’ inspector general’s report.

It is quite possible that the two events are unrelated. This also could be the smoking gun linking Obama to the IRS scandal. Fortunately, the story notes that thirteen people attended this meeting, which means it should be possible to find out what actually happened there.

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The IRS chief counsel, now implicated in the IRS scandal to harass conservatives, is one of only two Obama political appointees in the entire IRS.

9:43 am

William Wilkins, the IRS chief counsel, now implicated in the IRS scandal to harass conservatives, is one of only two Obama political appointees in the entire IRS.

Noonan’s review and analysis of yesterday’s testimony in the House is right on the money. The IRS scandal now points directly to the White House. Or as she notes,

It’s almost as if—my words—the conservative organizations in question were, during two major election cycles, deliberately held in a holding pattern.

And this was done deliberately, by Wilkins, Obama’s political appointee, using the IRS for political purposes.

Moreover, the testimony yesterday also proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Lois Lerner lied when she claimed the harassment was merely the actions of some rogue agents in Cincinnati. The obvious question then is this: Who was Lois Lerner trying to protect by these lies? The obvious answer: her bosses, in the White House.

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It appears that one of the four individuals whose tax records were illegally accessed for political reasons was tea party candidate Christine O’Donnell.

9:38 am

It appears that one of the four individuals whose tax records were illegally accessed for political reasons was Delaware senatorial Republican candidate Christine O’Donnell.

Investigators for Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, an influential Republican who serves on the Finance and Judiciary committees, have uncovered one key issue: a backdoor system in which state officials can access Americans’ private tax records in the name of investigating with little oversight or accountability. [emphasis mine]

Now isn’t that reassuring?

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The harassment of conservative groups by the IRS was planned and run by officials in Washington, D.C., according to a retiring IRS lawyer who will testify Thursday in the House.

10:09 pm

Working for the Democratic Party: The harassment of conservative groups by the IRS was planned and run by officials in Washington, D.C., according to a retiring IRS lawyer who will testify Thursday in the House.

Retiring IRS lawyer Carter C. Hull implicated the IRS Chief Counsel’s office, headed by Obama appointee William J. Wilkins, and Lois Lerner, the embattled head of the IRS’ exempt organizations office, in the IRS targeting scandal and made clear that the targeting started in Washington, according to leaked interviews that Hull granted to the Oversight Committee in advance of Thursday’s hearing.

It appears he is naming names. Thursday’s hearing should be quite interesting.

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The IRS now claims that the government official who willfully accessed confidential tax records illegally was not an IRS employee.

9:21 am

O goody: The IRS now claims that the government official who willfully accessed confidential tax records illegally was not an IRS employee.

How does this make anything better? Instead of an IRS official rummaging through confidential tax records for political purposes, they apparently let others in government do it directly.

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Treasury admitted today that the IRS tax records of several political candidates and campaign donors were illegally disclosed to unnamed government officials.

8:43 pm

The law is such an inconvenient thing: The Obama Treasury Department admitted today that the IRS tax records of several political candidates and campaign donors were illegally disclosed to unnamed government officials.

[O]f the four instances in which tax records were improperly accessed, three cases were determined to be “inadvertent.” “In the fourth case, we presented evidence of a willful unauthorized access to the Department of Justice, but the case was declined for prosecution,” Mr. George wrote. Of the three cases that the inspector general called “inadvertent” disclosures, Mr. George said his office referred one to Justice with a recommendation that no prosecution be brought. He said Justice officials agreed with his office’s assessment. No reason was given for Justice’s rejections of prosecutions.

I wonder why the Obama Justice Department declined to prosecute that fourth case, which was “willful” and thus very illegal.

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The FBI has still not contacted any conservative group that was harassed by the IRS.

10:11 am

The FBI has still not contacted any conservative group that was harassed by the IRS.

And we still don’t know who the lead investigator of the FBI investigation is.

This “FBI investigation” is a fraud. Obama might have expressed public outrage over the IRS scandal, but in private it appears he instead ordered that nothing be done and that FBI act as a shield for the guilty parties.

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The lawyer for IRS official Lois Lerner is pushing to get her full immunity in exchange for her full testimony to Congress.

9:57 am

The lawyer for IRS official Lois Lerner is pushing to get her full immunity in exchange for her full testimony to Congress.

The article makes two very good points: One, it will be difficult to prosecute anyone at the IRS for its harassment of conservatives, and two, Lerner’s full testimony is likely not going to have any earthshaking bombshells. She will state that the White House had nothing to do with the harassment (whether that is true or not), and that the harassment was merely the result of some bad management decisions.

And thus, the government’s power over us will rise, and freedom will experience another cut in its continuing death of a thousand cuts.

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The House committee has ruled that Lois Lerner waived her fifth amendment rights when she claimed she did “nothing wrong” before invoking the fifth in testimony last month.

11:24 am

The House committee investigating the IRS scandal has ruled that Lois Lerner waived her fifth amendment rights when she claimed she did “nothing wrong” before invoking the fifth in testimony last month.

“That is the not the way the Fifth Amendment works. You don’t get to tell your side of the story,” and then avoid cross examination, said Republican Trey Gowdy. “She sat there and could have said nothing.”

The vote could clear the way for Republicans to haul Lerner back before the committee, where she would likely again invoke her Fifth Amendment rights. That would likely lead to a vote to hold her in contempt of Congress, Republican aides said.

What I don’t understand is why the focus here is holding her in contempt. I would think the Republicans on this committee are negotiating to give her immunity so she can tell all. Then again, the track record of the left when comes to testimony is not good. Even with immunity I would expect Lerner to lie to protect Obama. Consider for example the absurd claims Holly Paz has made about the IRS harassment of conservatives.

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Liberal groups were not targeted by the IRS.

9:46 am

Despite some recent reports, liberal groups were not targeted by the IRS.

It appears these recent reports, that “progressives” were also targeted, are merely spin, an effort to defuse the scandal. A closer look reveals two facts about this so-called leftwing targeting: One, the liberal organizations were not “targeted,” merely “flagged.” Nothing was done to them at all, which is why none has come forward to complain. Second, the liberal organizations were 501c3 non-profits, not 501c4. The former get a greater tax exemption in exchange for not engaging in any political activity. Thus, such non-profits are normally subjected to greater scrutiny by the IRS.

It didn’t take much research to note these two details. That several major news organizations, including the Chicago Tribuine above and CNN, didn’t bother to check and simply regurgitated the spin, tells us a great deal about them.

Update: in related news, it appears that twelve different units at the IRS were involved in the targeting of conservatives.

That’s a far cry from one or two rogue agents in a single IRS office, as Lois Lerner claimed.

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In interviews to Congress, a Washington IRS supervisor admitted to scrutinizing tea party applications.

7:43 pm

In interviews to Congress, Washington IRS supervisor Holly Paz admitted to scrutinizing tea party applications.

So, very clearly this harassment wasn’t limited to low level employees in Cincinnati. Lois Lerner lied.

Still, this article appears to me to be a leak specifically designed to exonerate the Obama administration and to make it seem that the harassment of conservatives was merely bad management. To me, it reads like hogwash. I suspect when we get to see the entire transcripts of her interviews and when Paz is finally forced to answer some questions publicly things won’t look so innocent. For one thing, it seems impossible that only conservative organizations were picked for harassment without someone making a conscious political decision. For another, the following claim doesn’t meet the smell test for me:

Paz said an IRS supervisor in Cincinnati had commonly referred to the applications as “tea party” cases. But, Paz said, she thought that was simply shorthand for any application that included political activity.

Yeah, right. Anyone could see plainly that “tea party” could also be shorthand for radical leftwing organizations or Democratic Party front groups.

Finally, note that the IRS has admitted to replacing Paz, though they haven’t yet said whether she was actually fired. If she was so innocent, why did they do this?

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Even as the IRS was harassing any nonprofit using the word “patriot” in its name, it was rubberstamping exemptions for “Islamic” groups, even those that have violated laws and are thought to have links to terrorist organizations.

7:23 pm

The world upside down: Even as the IRS was harassing any nonprofit using the word “patriot” in its name, it was rubberstamping exemptions for “Islamic” groups, even those that have violated laws and are thought to have links to terrorist organizations.

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Not one tea party group has yet been contacted by the FBI, one month after the IRS scandal began.

11:31 pm

Stonewalling: Not one tea party group has yet been contacted by the FBI, one month after the IRS scandal began.

Worse, the head of the FBI can’t even name the FBI person in charge of the investigation.

Republican Rep. Jim Jordan lit into Mueller for his lack of knowledge during a House judiciary committee hearing. “This is the most important issue in front of the country in the last six weeks, and you don’t know who the lead investigator is?” Jordan asked, sounding shocked.

“At this juncture, no I do not,” Mueller responded.

“Do you know if you’ve talked to any of the victims?” Jordan went on. “Have you talked to any of the groups that were targeted by their government? Have you met with any of the tea party groups since May 14, 2013?”

“I don’t know what the status of the interviews are by the team that’s on it,” Mueller said.

Reached for comment Thursday afternoon, the FBI’s Washington, D.C. press office transferred TheDC to a long-ringing phone line and eventually hung up.

I have embedded the video of this hearing testimony below the fold. Watch and you will know that the claims of “outrage” by Obama and Holder are utter crap.
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