Getbig Bodybuilding, Figure and Fitness Forums
Getbig Main Boards => Politics and Political Issues Board => Topic started by: headhuntersix on May 08, 2014, 07:19:36 AM
-
http://oversight.house.gov/release/bipartisan-house-vote-finds-irs-targeting-scandal-figure-lois-lerner-criminal-contempt/
The juicy bits for those concerned...please remember Libs..u won't always be in charge so this shit is bad all thee way around.
To preempt the release of an independent investigation, Ms. Lerner publicly admitted that the IRS division she led had targeted conservatives. After waiving her right to protection from self-incrimination, Lerner had a choice: testify fully and truthfully about what occurred or face criminal contempt. Ms. Lerner refused to testify even after her attorney told Congress she would do so.
“Unless the President decides to assert executive privilege, there is no precedent for the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia to do anything but pursue this criminal case. Absent political interference by the Administration, this legally binding action – as well as a separate resolution calling for a special prosecutor to take over the Main Justice Department’s tainted and dormant investigation – require the Justice Department to take action.”
-
Outstanding. These people need to be held accountable.
-
nothing will happen because the US Attorney won't prosecute because Lerner did not commit contempt and legally invoked the 5th amendment
but, Repubs will accomplish their goal of having another phony scandal to talk about on the campaign trail
-
http://cdn.rollcall.com/news/in_showdown_with_lerner_house_imprisonment_not_out_of_the_question-232638-1.html?popular=true&cdn_load=true&zkPrintable=1&nopagination=1
Good - send her to the jail
-
nothing will happen because the US Attorney won't prosecute because Lerner did not commit contempt and legally invoked the 5th amendment
but, Repubs will accomplish their goal of having another phony scandal to talk about on the campaign trail
Sure she invoked it....after she had already begun making statements related to the case.
-
Sure she invoked it....after she had already begun making statements related to the case.
Right. Absolved herself of wrongdoing, then took the Fifth. I think she waived it.
-
Sure she invoked it....after she had already begun making statements related to the case.
bingo - you are not even a lawyer and get it.
-
she didn't waive it by merely claiming she was innocent and that's why the US Attorney won't pursue it
This guy sums it up pretty succinctly
http://www.kflaw.com/siteFiles/News/1DC7C45B6F0434A0491138F00A952BFD.pdf
even the right wing Heritage blog is doubtful
http://blog.heritage.org/2013/05/24/did-the-irss-lois-lerner-waive-her-fifth-amendment-rights/
Keep in mind that Issa has all of her emails and if he really wanted her to testify he would just give her immunity
He doesn't want to do that because he knows already that he will find no wrongdoing and then they will have to give up on this "controversy" and need to go find a new one that they can wail and moan about on the campaign trail
-
She is finished - now its time for the plea deal and her to spill the beans on ofag
-
She is finished - now its time for the plea deal and her to spill the beans on ofag
don't quit your day job - whatever that actually is
it certainly can't be an attorney
-
Come on straw...whether she waived it or not is all legal bullshit but the bigger question is...is there something there. U have 10% of tea party members being audited. The dam IRS doesn't audit 10 groups that much. I could drive through IRS HQ blowing $100's from a leaf blower and they wouldn't question it.
-
I think she waived it by my understanding of the law.
-
Its easily an arguable point. But its not the overarching thing here. Did a governmental body target private citizens to aid a political party or political campaign and then where they ordered to do it and by whom. Was it the WH...that gives u an impeachable offensive. Or was there a climate of pervasive anti-tea party/ anti conservative feelings by people appointed by the admin who felt they were doing the bidding of Obama without a direct order.
-
Its easily an arguable point. But its not the overarching thing here. Did a governmental body target private citizens to aid a political party or political campaign and then where they ordered to do it and by whom. Was it the WH...that gives u an impeachable offensive. Or was there a climate of pervasive anti-tea party/ anti conservative feelings by people appointed by the admin who felt they were doing the bidding of Obama without a direct order.
Im sure it was a directive from Jarret after the 2010 disaster.
-
Its easily an arguable point. But its not the overarching thing here. Did a governmental body target private citizens to aid a political party or political campaign and then where they ordered to do it and by whom. Was it the WH...that gives u an impeachable offensive. Or was there a climate of pervasive anti-tea party/ anti conservative feelings by people appointed by the admin who felt they were doing the bidding of Obama without a direct order.
I'm sure there is plausible deniability regarding the president, but these things don't happen in a vacuum. Some staff member was involved, either directly or indirectly. I doubt there is a smoking gun, but this didn't originate in some local IRS office.
-
Come on straw...whether she waived it or not is all legal bullshit but the bigger question is...is there something there. U have 10% of tea party members being audited. The dam IRS doesn't audit 10 groups that much. I could drive through IRS HQ blowing $100's from a leaf blower and they wouldn't question it.
If Issa really wanted to investigate he would simply offer her immunity
He is not doing this because he already has all the information and knows there was nothing improper and then this scandal goes away
His motivation is not to investigate but to keep this scandal alive so they can use it as political fodder in the elections
BTW - the larger issue is the discrepancy in how the law was written by Congress vs. the IRS redefining a law (do they have that power)
The IRS must (as mandated by both the law and even their own rule) to determine whether political groups actually qualify for tax exempt status
Also keep in mind that no right wing group was even denied tax exempt status so all the IRS did was look at them and said essentially "you're fine...move along"
that's your entire "scandal"
Here the law written by Congress and then the rule written by the IRS
The current version of the Revenue Act of 1913 provides a tax exemption for:
26 U.S.C. § 501(c)(4)(A)
Civil leagues or organizations not organized for profit but operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare or local associations of employees, the membership of which is limited to the employees of a designated person or persons in a particular municipality, and the net earnings of which are devoted exclusively to charitable, educational, or recreational purposes.
Then in 1959 the IRS redefined the term "promotion of social welfare" to depart radically from the statute:
Treas. Reg. § 1.501(c)(4)-1(a)(2)(i)
[a]n organization is operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare if it is primarily engaged in promoting in some way the common good and general welfare of the people of the community. An organization embraced within this section is one which is operated primarily for the purpose of bringing about civic betterments and social improvements.
-
If Issa really wanted to investigate he would simply offer her immunity
He is not doing this because he already has all the information and knows there was nothing improper and then this scandal goes away
His motivation is not to investigate but to keep this scandal alive so they can use it as political fodder in the elections
BTW - the larger issue is the discrepancy in how the law was written by Congress vs. the IRS redefining a law (do they have that power)
The IRS must (as mandated by both the law and even their own rule) to determine whether political groups actually qualify for tax exempt status
Also keep in mind that no right wing group was even denied tax exempt status so all the IRS did was look at them and said essentially "you're fine...move along"
that's your entire "scandal"
Here the law written by Congress and then the rule written by the IRS
The current version of the Revenue Act of 1913 provides a tax exemption for:
26 U.S.C. § 501(c)(4)(A)
Civil leagues or organizations not organized for profit but operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare or local associations of employees, the membership of which is limited to the employees of a designated person or persons in a particular municipality, and the net earnings of which are devoted exclusively to charitable, educational, or recreational purposes.
Then in 1959 the IRS redefined the term "promotion of social welfare" to depart radically from the statute:
Treas. Reg. § 1.501(c)(4)-1(a)(2)(i)
[a]n organization is operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare if it is primarily engaged in promoting in some way the common good and general welfare of the people of the community. An organization embraced within this section is one which is operated primarily for the purpose of bringing about civic betterments and social improvements.
He needs to offer her that....
-
He needs to offer her that....
He won't because it would make this "scandal" go away and that's the last thing he wants
If he really knew (or even thought) this went beyond a few people at the IRS just doing their jobs it would make total sense for him to offer her immunity but since he knows that is not the case he has no motivation to do that because this "scandal" would dry up and blow away in a matter of days
-
Nothing will happen to her because Holder and his flunkies under him won't do anything to her. She was already talking to the AG before her testimony. She won't need immunity or a deal because the AG won't do anything. He's Obama's buddy, and none of the Obama admin's crimes will be punished by LE - because Holder is the top LE officer in the land, unfortunately.
-
Sarah Swinehart (202) 226-4774
IRS Claims to Have Lost Over 2 Years of Lerner Emails
f t # e
Washington, Jun 13 | 1 comments
Washington, DC – Today, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) issued the following statement regarding the Internal Revenue Service informing the Committee that they have lost Lois Lerner emails from a period of January 2009 – April 2011. Due to a supposed computer crash, the agency only has Lerner emails to and from other IRS employees during this time frame. The IRS claims it cannot produce emails written only to or from Lerner and outside agencies or groups, such as the White House, Treasury, Department of Justice, FEC, or Democrat offices.
“The fact that I am just learning about this, over a year into the investigation, is completely unacceptable and now calls into question the credibility of the IRS’s response to Congressional inquiries. There needs to be an immediate investigation and forensic audit by Department of Justice as well as the Inspector General.
“Just a short time ago, Commissioner Koskinen promised to produce all Lerner documents. It appears now that was an empty promise. Frankly, these are the critical years of the targeting of conservative groups that could explain who knew what when, and what, if any, coordination there was between agencies. Instead, because of this loss of documents, we are conveniently left to believe that Lois Lerner acted alone. This failure of the IRS requires the White House, which promised to get to the bottom of this, to do an Administration-wide search and production of any emails to or from Lois Lerner. The Administration has repeatedly referred us back to the IRS for production of materials. It is clear that is wholly insufficient when it comes to determining the full scope of the violation of taxpayer rights.”
Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Charles Boustany Jr., M.D. (R-LA) added, "In the course of the Committee's investigation, the Administration repeatedly claimed we were getting access to all relevant IRS documents. Only now - thirteen months into the investigation - the IRS reveals that key emails from the time of the targeting have been lost. And they bury that fact deep in an unrelated letter on a Friday afternoon. In that same letter, they urge Congress to end the investigations into IRS wrongdoing. This is not the transparency promised to the American people. If there is no smidgeon of corruption what is the Administration hiding?"
-
It's a cover up, plain and simple. Why offer her immunity...she's going to lie either way.
-
Sarah Swinehart (202) 226-4774
IRS Claims to Have Lost Over 2 Years of Lerner Emails
f t # e
Washington, Jun 13 | 1 comments
Washington, DC – Today, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) issued the following statement regarding the Internal Revenue Service informing the Committee that they have lost Lois Lerner emails from a period of January 2009 – April 2011. Due to a supposed computer crash, the agency only has Lerner emails to and from other IRS employees during this time frame. The IRS claims it cannot produce emails written only to or from Lerner and outside agencies or groups, such as the White House, Treasury, Department of Justice, FEC, or Democrat offices.
“The fact that I am just learning about this, over a year into the investigation, is completely unacceptable and now calls into question the credibility of the IRS’s response to Congressional inquiries. There needs to be an immediate investigation and forensic audit by Department of Justice as well as the Inspector General.
“Just a short time ago, Commissioner Koskinen promised to produce all Lerner documents. It appears now that was an empty promise. Frankly, these are the critical years of the targeting of conservative groups that could explain who knew what when, and what, if any, coordination there was between agencies. Instead, because of this loss of documents, we are conveniently left to believe that Lois Lerner acted alone. This failure of the IRS requires the White House, which promised to get to the bottom of this, to do an Administration-wide search and production of any emails to or from Lois Lerner. The Administration has repeatedly referred us back to the IRS for production of materials. It is clear that is wholly insufficient when it comes to determining the full scope of the violation of taxpayer rights.”
Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Charles Boustany Jr., M.D. (R-LA) added, "In the course of the Committee's investigation, the Administration repeatedly claimed we were getting access to all relevant IRS documents. Only now - thirteen months into the investigation - the IRS reveals that key emails from the time of the targeting have been lost. And they bury that fact deep in an unrelated letter on a Friday afternoon. In that same letter, they urge Congress to end the investigations into IRS wrongdoing. This is not the transparency promised to the American people. If there is no smidgeon of corruption what is the Administration hiding?"
Yeah bullshit, if my company tried to pull that shit someone would be headed for jail. You don't loose email..........
-
http://oversight.house.gov/release/bipartisan-house-vote-finds-irs-targeting-scandal-figure-lois-lerner-criminal-contempt/
The juicy bits for those concerned...please remember Libs..u won't always be in charge so this shit is bad all thee way around.
To preempt the release of an independent investigation, Ms. Lerner publicly admitted that the IRS division she led had targeted conservatives. After waiving her right to protection from self-incrimination, Lerner had a choice: testify fully and truthfully about what occurred or face criminal contempt. Ms. Lerner refused to testify even after her attorney told Congress she would do so.
“Unless the President decides to assert executive privilege, there is no precedent for the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia to do anything but pursue this criminal case. Absent political interference by the Administration, this legally binding action – as well as a separate resolution calling for a special prosecutor to take over the Main Justice Department’s tainted and dormant investigation – require the Justice Department to take action.”
Nothing is going to happen to her. She resigned meaning that she has no obligation to speak with the House or Senate anymore. Even so, Obama would grant her a pardon ala Scooter Libby
-
Nothing is going to happen to her. She resigned meaning that she has no obligation to speak with the House or Senate anymore. Even so, Obama would grant her a pardon ala Scooter Libby
She resigns so she is absolved of all wrong doing? What fucked up world do you live in?
-
nothing will happen because the US Attorney won't prosecute because Lerner did not commit contempt and legally invoked the 5th amendment
but, Repubs will accomplish their goal of having another phony scandal to talk about on the campaign trail
well played, Lois!
something right out of Dick Nixon's 'lost' 18 minutes of tapes.
-
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION’S CLAIM THAT LOIS LERNER’S EMAILS ARE “LOST” IS LUDICROUS (IRS security)
Power Line ^ | 06/16/2014 | JOHN HINDERAKER
Posted on June 14, 2014 at 3:23:25 PM EDT by Kid Shelleen
---snip--- Further, emails are universally backed up in some other medium, often electronic tape, for long-term storage. Thus, even if an email server is destroyed, or all emails are deleted from a server after a specified length of time, the emails are still recoverable from back-up storage media. The DOJ lawyer whom Scott quoted this morning was correct about this. The IRS, like virtually every other business or government entity, uses such a system. The Agency’s manual on “Managing Electronic Records” has been made public; you can read it here. A few relevant excerpts:
(Excerpt) Read more at powerlineblog.com ...
-
She resigns so she is absolved of all wrong doing? What fucked up world do you live in?
I don't think she did anything wrong....there were so many new "Tea Party" organization registered that it warranted audits and checks on it to insure that they were legit. Case Closed
-
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION’S CLAIM THAT LOIS LERNER’S EMAILS ARE “LOST” IS LUDICROUS (IRS security)
Power Line ^ | 06/16/2014 | JOHN HINDERAKER
Posted on June 14, 2014 at 3:23:25 PM EDT by Kid Shelleen
---snip--- Further, emails are universally backed up in some other medium, often electronic tape, for long-term storage. Thus, even if an email server is destroyed, or all emails are deleted from a server after a specified length of time, the emails are still recoverable from back-up storage media. The DOJ lawyer whom Scott quoted this morning was correct about this. The IRS, like virtually every other business or government entity, uses such a system. The Agency’s manual on “Managing Electronic Records” has been made public; you can read it here. A few relevant excerpts:
(Excerpt) Read more at powerlineblog.com ...
That's awesome.. :)
-
I don't think she did anything wrong....there were so many new "Tea Party" organization registered that it warranted audits and checks on it to insure that they were legit. Case Closed
She illegally forwarded IRS info to the FBI...she oversaw a process where groups were singled out for scrutiny based on their political views. She should be in jail....
-
nothing will happen because the US Attorney won't prosecute because Lerner did not commit contempt and legally invoked the 5th amendment
but, Repubs will accomplish their goal of having another phony scandal to talk about on the campaign trail
How do you know this is a "phony" scandal? You must agree ... the truth has not come forward and thanks to some deleted emails and eric holder, once again the public may never know the truth. That is unless you know something ...
-
I don't think she did anything wrong....there were so many new "Tea Party" organization registered that it warranted audits and checks on it to insure that they were legit. Case Closed
Case not closed, you may A OK with .gov fucking with whomever it wants, but I'm not. You fucking sheeple make me want to vomit.
-
Lawmakers Fume Over Lost Emails in IRS Probe
WASHINGTON June 13, 2014 (AP)
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER Associated Press
Associated Press
Congressional investigators are fuming over revelations that the Internal Revenue Service has lost a trove of emails to and from a central figure in the agency's tea party controversy.
The IRS said Lois Lerner's computer crashed in 2011, wiping out an untold number of emails that were being sought by congressional investigators. The investigators want to see all of Lerner's emails from 2009 to 2013 as part of their probe into the way agents handled applications for tax-exempt status by tea party and other conservative groups.
Lerner headed the IRS division that processes applications for tax-exempt status. The IRS acknowledged last year that agents had improperly scrutinized applications by some conservative groups.
"Do they really expect the American people to believe that, after having withheld these emails for a year, they're just now realizing the most critical time period is missing?" said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight Committee. "If there wasn't nefarious conduct that went much higher than Lois Lerner in the IRS targeting scandal, why are they playing these games?"
The Oversight Committee is one of three congressional committees investigating the IRS over its handling of tea party applications from 2010 to 2012. The Justice Department and the IRS inspector general are also investigating.
Congressional investigators have shown that IRS officials in Washington were closely involved in the handling of tea party applications, many of which languished for more than a year without action. But so far, they have not publicly produced evidence that anyone outside the agency directed the targeting or even knew about it.
If anyone in the Obama administration outside the agency was involved, investigators were hoping for clues in Lerner's emails.
"The fact that I am just learning about this, over a year into the investigation, is completely unacceptable and now calls into question the credibility of the IRS' response to congressional inquiries," said Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. "There needs to be an immediate investigation and forensic audit by Department of Justice as well as the inspector general."
The IRS said technicians went to great lengths trying to recover data from Lerner's computer in 2011. In emails provided by the IRS, technicians said they sent the computer to a forensic lab run by the agency's criminal investigations unit. But to no avail.
The IRS was able to generate 24,000 Lerner emails from the 2009 to 2011 because Lerner had copied in other IRS employees. The agency said it pieced together the emails from the computers of 82 other IRS employees.
But an untold number are gone. Camp's office said the missing emails are mainly ones to and from people outside the IRS, "such as the White House, Treasury, Department of Justice, FEC, or Democrat offices."
Anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist called the episode "the worst attempt to blame technology in service of a cover-up since the infamous 18-minute gap" in former President Richard Nixon's Watergate tapes.
The IRS said in a statement that more than 250 IRS employees have been working to assist congressional investigations, spending nearly $10 million to produce more than 750,000 documents.
Overall, the IRS said it is producing a total of 67,000 emails to and from Lerner, covering the period from 2009 to 2013.
-
June 15, 2014 6:45 PM
The Dog Ate My E-Mails, for Two Years
IT experts and the IRS’s own manual note that backups of Lerner’s e-mails must exist.
By John Fund
Archive
Latest
RSS
Send
.
Lois Lerner
Print
Text
Comments
402
John Fund
Who knew that the Obama administration had a penchant for black humor? Earlier this year, in February, President Obama told Bill O’Reilly during an interview on Fox News that there was “not even a smidgen of corruption” in the IRS scandal involving the targeting of conservative nonprofit groups. In July 2103, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew foreshadowed his boss’s nonchalance by insisting that there was “no evidence” that any political appointee had been involved in the scandal.
Now we may know why. After months of delay in responding to congressional inquiries, the IRS now claims that, for the period of January 2009 to April 2011, all e-mails between Lois Lerner — the IRS official at the center of the scandal — and anyone outside the IRS were wiped out by a “computer crash.” As House Ways and Means chairman Dave Camp wrote in a statement, this loss means that “we are conveniently left to believe that Lois Lerner acted alone.” After all, there isn’t a “smidgen” of e-mail evidence to suggest otherwise.
Advertisement
A growing number of computer professionals are stepping forward to say that none of this makes sense. Norman Cillo, a former program manager at Microsoft, told The Blaze: “I don’t know of any e-mail administrator [who] doesn’t have at least three ways of getting that mail back. It’s either on the disks or it’s on a TAPE backup someplace on an archive server.” Bruce Webster, an IT expert with 30 years of experience consulting with dozens of private companies, seconds this opinion: “It would take a catastrophic mechanical failure for Lerner’s drive to suffer actual physical damage, but in any case, the FBI should be able to recover something. And the FBI and the Justice Department know it.”
In March of this year, John Koskinen, the new IRS commissioner, testified before Congress that all the e-mails of IRS employees are “stored in servers.” The agency’s own manual specifies that it “provides for backup and recovery of records to protect against information loss or corruption.” The reason is simple. It is well known in legal and IT circles that failure to preserve e-mails can lead to a court ruling of “spoliation of evidence.” That means a judge or jury is then instructed to treat deletions as if they were deliberate destruction of incriminating evidence.
Why is the loss of the Lerner e-mails particularly important? Last year’s report by the IRS inspector general set out a timeline of the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups. A full 16 of the 26 non-redacted events in the inspector general’s timeline took place during the period for which all of Lerner’s e-mails were “lost,” and these 16 instances refer to “e-mail” as the source for information on that event. As tax expert Alan Joel points out, much of the context about how the IRS scandal developed and who may have known about it is now “lost” in the black hole the Lerner e-mails are supposed to have been sucked into.
Since the IG report, we have learned that Lerner was engaged in highly suspect activity. As the Wall Street Journal editorial page noted on Saturday:
She shipped a database of 12,000 nonprofit tax returns to the FBI, the investigating agency for Justice’s Criminal Division. The IRS, in other words, was inviting Justice to engage in a fishing expedition, and inviting people not even licensed to fish in that pond. The Criminal Division (rather than the Tax Division) investigates and prosecutes under the Internal Revenue Code only when the crimes involve IRS personnel.
If there is an ongoing cover-up of the IRS scandal, it’s obvious why some folks would be desperate to continue it. Last year, Time magazine’s liberal columnist Joe Klein wrote that the IRS scandal placed President Obama “on the same page as Richard Nixon.” Article II of the Articles of Impeachment by the House Judiciary Committee in 1974 included a charge that Nixon had caused, “in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, income tax audits or other income tax investigations to be initiated or conducted in a discriminatory manner.” The Judiciary Committee was also deeply disturbed by the Nixon administration’s apparent efforts to conceal evidence. When investigators found a crucial “18-and-a-half-minute gap” from a Watergate break-in conversation involving Nixon and his aides, the administration implausibly claimed that Rose Mary Woods, Nixon’s longtime secretary, had accidentally erased that portion of the tape. Later, Woods herself said she could have been responsible for no more than five minutes of the gap.
Now we have the “IRS server ate the e-mails” excuse. “Barack Obama has brought us Jimmy Carter’s economy and Richard Nixon’s excuses,” Steve Stockman (R., Texas) waggishly observed Friday. At a minimum, the House committees investigating the IRS scandal should demand that everyone involved in the search for the Lerner e-mails appear before them and testify under oath. I strongly suspect that if anything is amiss, one or more employees will not want to commit perjury to protect political higher-ups.
Normally, an independent prosecutor would be appointed to get to the bottom of all this. But don’t expect such a move from Attorney General Eric Holder. When he was the No. 2 official at Justice during President Clinton’s second term, he was instrumental in blocking the appointment of any new special prosecutors for various Clinton scandals. Holder himself has mastered the art of withholding documents from Congress. In 2012, the House of Representatives (including 17 Democrats) voted to hold Eric Holder in contempt for ignoring a subpoena for documents in the Fast and Furious gun-running scandal.
As yet more evidence of this administration’s seeming tendency toward black humor, the current Justice Department investigation of the IRS scandal is being headed by Barbara Bosserman, a trial attorney who was a large donor to both of Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns, with her first donation dating all the way back to the primary season in 2008. But, of course, Justice says there’s no conflict of interest. Not even a smidgen.
— John Fund is national-affairs columnist for NRO and co-author of the recently released Obama’s Enforcer: Eric Holder’s Justice Department.
-
Those e-mails are not lost. The White House is intentionally preventing the committees from seeing them.
How can anyone, after hearing that e-mails were conveniently lost, continue to believe that this is not a scandal or continue to discredit the efforts of these congressional committees to get to the bottom of this situation?
-
http://foxnewsinsider.com/2014/06/16/judge-nap-lost-lerner-emails-looks-irs-has-willfully-destroyed-evidence
:o
-
Lois Lerner on IRS hard drive crash: ‘Sometimes stuff just happens’
The Washington Times ^ | Tuesday, June 17, 2014 | Stephen Dinan
Posted on 6/17/2014 8:19:57 AM by WhiskeyX
Lois G. Lerner, the employee at the center of the IRS tea party targeting scandal, wanted to recover files from her computer hard drive after it crashed in 2011, but when told it was impossible, she took a philosophical view.
“Sometimes stuff just happens,” she said in a 2011 email to the IRS tech staff that tried to recover documents from the hard drive.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
-
White House Claims IRS Computer Crash Story Is Really True
The Daily Caller ^ | 17 Jun 2014 | Neil Munro
Posted on 6/17/2014 11:18:26 AM by mandaladon
White House spokesman Josh Earnest stonewalled reporters Monday, seeking an explanation for the administration’s Friday-night claim that a computer crash wiped out all the emails between IRS chief Lois Lerner and other agencies, including the White House.
“You’ve never heard of a computer crashing before?” Earnest told a reporter during a brief press gaggle while flying back to D.C. from President Barack Obama’s fundraising trip to California.
“A good faith effort has been made” to find the missing emails, he said.
Skepticism about the administration’s claim is “indicative of the kinds of conspiracy that are propagated around this story,” Earnest scoffed.
The claimed loss of emails have evoked much ridicule from GOP leaders, who argue that normal computer networks store backups of emails. “Ridiculous. #WH has to get serious,” reads a tweet from Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican Party.
From 2010 onward, Obama’s IRS officials used their tax power to cripple fundraising and advocacy at many Republican-leaning tea party groups before the 2012 election.
IRS official Lois Lerner played a central role in the suppression effort, but has refused to explain how the scheme began, and if the White House was involved.
Administration officials promised to send copies of Lerner’s emails to House GOP investigators. But they now say they have no copies of her messages to and from senior officials in other agencies, because her computer crashed.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
-
http://dailycaller.com/2014/06/17/irs-was-required-by-law-to-print-out-lois-lerners-emails
;)
-
Lerner's e-mails are not the only ones that are claimed to be lost. E-mails of six other people that are being investigated have also been lost.
So do you libtards still believe that there is no scandal? If there's "not even a smidgen of corruption" then WHY COVER IT UP?
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/380576/irs-has-lost-more-e-mails-eliana-johnson#!
It’s not just Lois Lerner’s e-mails. The Internal Revenue Service says it can’t produce e-mails from six more employees involved in the targeting of conservative groups, according to two Republicans investigating the scandal.
The IRS told Ways and Means chairman Dave Camp and subcommittee chairman Charles Boustany that computer crashes resulted in additional lost e-mails, including from Nikole Flax, the chief of staff to former IRS commissioner Steven Miller, who was fired in the wake of the targeting scandal.
The revelation about Lerner’s e-mails rekindled the scandal and today’s news has further inflamed Republicans. Camp and Boustany are now demanding a special prosecutor to investigate “every angle” of the targeting. They expressed particular outrage that the agency has known since February that it would not be able to produce the e-mails requested by the committee yet did not apprise the committee of that fact, and they charged in a statement that the IRS is attempting to “cover up the fact that it convenient lost key documents in the investigation.”
-
http://dailycaller.com/2014/06/17/irs-was-required-by-law-to-print-out-lois-lerners-emails
;)
They wipe their rear ends with the law.
-
The IRS scandal explodes
Flopping Aces ^ | 06-17-14 | DrJohn
Posted on 6/17/2014 2:05:05 PM by Starman417
not-even-smidgen-obama-irs-scandal-corruption-politics-politics-1391817035
Over the last few weeks tension has been growing over the Lois Lerner/IRS scandal and today it has exploded. Lerner has been rather cavalier about the whole thing:
Lois G. Lerner, the employee at the center of the IRS tea party targeting scandal, wanted to recover files from her computer hard drive after it crashed in 2011, but when told it was impossible, she took a philosophical view.
“Sometimes stuff just happens,” she said in a 2011 email to the IRS tech staff that tried to recover documents from the hard drive.
Problem is, it's just not possible.
Norman Cillo, an Army veteran who worked in intelligence and a former program manager at Microsoft, argued it is very difficult to lose emails for good and laid out six reasons why he believes Congress is “being lied to” about the Lerner emails:
1. I believe the government uses Microsoft Exchange for their email servers. They have built-in exchange mail database redundancy. So, unless they did not follow Microsofts recommendations they are telling a falsehood. You can see by the diagram below that if you have three servers in a DAG you have three copies of the database.
2. Every IT organization that I know of has hotswappable disk drives. Every server built since 2000 has them. Meaning that if a single disk goes bad it’s easy to replace.
3. ALL Servers use some form of RAID technology. The only way that data can be totally lost (Meaning difficult to bring back) is if more than a single disk goes before the first bad disk is replaced. In the diagram below you can see that its possible to lose a single disk and still keep the data.
4. If the server crashed (Hardware failure other than disks), then the disks that contain the DATA for the Exchange database is still available because the server hardware and disks are exchangeable. Meaning that if I have another server with the same hardware in it, I can put the disks in and everything should boot right up.
5. All email servers in a professional organization use TAPE backup. Meaning if all the above fails, you can restore the server using the TAPE backups.
6. If they are talking about her local PC, then it’s a simple matter of going to the servers which have the email and getting them from the servers. If the servers have removed the data you can still get them by using the backups of the servers to recover the emails.
And were it possible, it should never have happened in the first place. The IRS is required to make hard copies of emails just in case the worst happened:
“The [Federal Records Act] requires agencies to make and preserve records of agency decisions, policies, and essential transactions, and to take steps to safeguard against the loss of agency records,” said House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, who subpoenaed IRS Commissioner John Koskinen Monday.
The IRS’s own definition of the Federal Records Act makes clear that emails must be saved and documented, according to an instructional page for employees on the IRS website.
“The Federal Records Act applies to email records just as it does to records you create using other media,” according to the IRS. “Emails are records when they are: Created or received in the transaction of agency business; Appropriate for preservation as evidence of the government’s function and activities; or Valuable because of the information they contain.”
“If you create or receive email messages during the course of your daily work, you are responsible for ensuring that you manage them properly,” according to the IRS. “The Treasury Department’s current email policy requires emails and attachments that meet the definition of a federal record be added to the organization’s files by printing them (including the essential transmission data) and filing them with related paper records. If transmission and receipt data are not printed by the email system, annotate the paper copy.”
Now we learn that the computers of six more IRS employees involved in the investigation have conveniently crashed.
(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net...
-
This stuff is just staggering. Nixon was impeached for WAAAAAY less than what obamas administration has done. Hell they have had at least 3-4 scandals already that were FAR worse than watergate. Yet barely a peep from the non-fox media.
-
This stuff is just staggering. Nixon was impeached for WAAAAAY less than what obamas administration has done. Hell they have had at least 3-4 scandals already that were FAR worse than watergate. Yet barely a peep from the non-fox media.
pretty much cause we don't care. now if it was the other way around, we'd be screaming. it's just politics 101
-
...
Nixon was impeached for WAAAAAY less than what obamas administration has done. Hell they have had at least 3-4 scandals already that were FAR worse than watergate.
...
This sounds easy to prove or disprove.
Please name the Obama scandals that were worse than Watergate.
(BTW, do you really know much about Watergate?)
-
Watergate was comparatively minor ...Johnson had bugged Goldwater's office and plane in 1964...this is using the government to attack private citizens because you don't like their POV. Who the fuck does Obama think he is, Stalin?
-
This sounds easy to prove or disprove.
Please name the Obama scandals that were worse than Watergate.
(BTW, do you really know much about Watergate?)
LMFAO!!!!
Benghazi
Fast N Furious
IRS scandal
NSA spying
Spying on the media
NASA turning into a muslm outreach org
GZ mosque
just to name a few
-
pretty much cause we don't care. now if it was the other way around, we'd be screaming. it's just politics 101
That is why you are a traitor and a skell
-
That is why you are a traitor and a skell
and that's why you spend all day in the gym and can't even unscrew a water bottle cap. All for show but no depth.
-
Part of me hopes there is nothing there, because this could bring this scandal to crisis level with criminal prosecutions and whatnot.
We are getting exactly what we voted for in 2008 and 2012.
-
Part of me hopes there is nothing there, because this could bring this scandal to crisis level with criminal prosecutions and whatnot.
We are getting exactly what we voted for in 2008 and 2012.
Anyone surprised by this needs their head examined.
-
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/jun/17/irs-scandal-special-prosecutor-missing-emails
:D
-
PostPartisan
The Insiders: Democrats should want a special prosecutor for the IRS scandal
90
More
By Ed Rogers June 18 at 3:49 PM
In light of the Friday announcement that the IRS has lost an “untold” number of e-mails from Lois Lerner and six other IRS employees, it is safe to assume Lerner interrupted her taxpayer-funded retirement to hop on a cocktail table somewhere and do a fistpump. And you can bet there were high-fives at the Justice Department and thinly disguised giggles and thumbs-up at the White House.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.)
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) (Cliff Owen/Associated Press)
The audacity of this takes stonewalling to a whole new level. It used to be that if you wanted to “stonewall,” you would just keep quiet. But this administration’s cronies will plead the fifth, conveniently not find evidence, drag their feet, shrug, cry partisanship and expect people to just get over it.
So far, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has taken point in the investigation. Issa announced yesterday that he has issued a subpoena for the hard drive that the IRS claims irreparably crashed. He also subpoenaed IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, who will now face questioning from the House oversight committee next week. I don’t want to prejudge Koskinen’s testimony, but I have a feeling it is safe to assume he won’t know answers to many of the questions he is asked, won’t recall any specific details and, as much as he wants to “cooperate,” won’t be able to answer technical questions about Lerner’s hard drive.
The corrosive effect of this diminishes America’s legal authority and makes for bad politics for the Democrats in November. How can the Democrats defend these “lost” e-mails? Who in a competitive 2014 race can keep a straight face and say they believe this president’s claims? If I were a Democrat, I would take Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp’s (R-Mich.) good advice and support a special prosecutor. It is the only way for Democrats to put distance between themselves and this grotesque violation of the public trust.
The need for a special prosecutor is obvious on many fronts. After all, the key witness has pled the Fifth. House oversight committee Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) declared “the case is solved and if it were up to me, I would wrap this case up and move on.” And we can’t forget the president’s definitive, premature pronouncement that there was not a “smidgen of corruption” in the IRS scandal. (Sidenote to the White House press corps: Someone should ask how exactly the president defines “smidgen.”) Maybe this “missing” evidence will be the straw that broke the camel’s back for the Democrats.
They say where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Well, this is more than just a little smoke – Washington is choking on it. Democrats should want the political cover of supporting the appointment of a special prosecutor. They will need protection from the guffaws, disgust and outright retribution that will follow this scandal to the ballot box in November.
Follow Ed on Twitter: @EdRogersDC
-
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/06/irs-lois-lerner-emails-108044.html
They destroyed the hard drives.
-
Until congress starts firing people and putting people in jail nothing will happen, same with Benghazi, NSA, Fast and Furious, Spying on Reporters...I am sure I am missing some other stuff.
-
Report: Lois Lerner's Hard Drive Has Been "Thrown Away"
Townhall.com ^ | 6/19/2014 | Katie Pavlich
Posted on 6/19/2014 8:26:29 AM by Servant of the Cross
According to a report published late last night in POLITICO, the hard drive belonging to Lois Lerner where the IRS claims her emails to outside agencies and groups like the White House, Department of Justice, FEC, Democrat members of Congress, etc. were stored has been...destroyed.
Ex-IRS official Lois Lerner’s crashed hard drive has been recycled, making it likely the lost emails of the lightening rod in the tea party targeting controversy will never be found, according to multiple sources.
“We’ve been informed that the hard drive has been thrown away,” Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the top Republican on the Finance Committee, said in a brief hallway interview.
So now the IRS wants us to believe Lerner's emails were only stored on her personal hard drive? And not on a backup server somewhere? Come on. Further, why is it that Lerner has emails to employees in the IRS, but her hard drive just happened to "crash" between January 2009-April 2011 and only on the emails to outside sources?
Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell Issa didn't buy the excuse when the "lost" emails were announced late last week. Now he's implying the emails were deliberately made to disappear, which is a violation of federal law.
"If the IRS truly got rid of evidence in a way that violated the Federal Records Act and ensured the FBI never got a crack at recovering files from an official claiming a Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination, this is proof their whole line about 'losing' e-mails in the targeting scandal was just one more attempted deception," Issa said in a statement to Fox News. "Official records, like the e-mails of a prominent official, don't just disappear without a trace unless that was the intention."
Things just got a lot more criminal.
The latest news suggests such professionals may never get the chance to try again — and the IRS has even said its criminal investigators who specialize in rebuilding hard drives to recover hidden information from criminals were unable to restore the data back in 2011.
-
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/209883-issa-camp-seek-irs-hard-drives
>:(
-
This administration is easily the most corrupt in modern history.
-
This administration is easily the most corrupt in modern history.
My knee jerk response when I read this was no, but I think you might be right. Not good for the country.
-
;)
-
My knee jerk response when I read this was no, but I think you might be right. Not good for the country.
I didnt start out an obama hater. I thought most of the stuff against him was made up or exaggerrated. Over time though it has become abundantly clear that a lot of what people had warned about is playing out before our eyes and that he actually is an enormous threat to our country.
He truly is a left wing radical and he truly is trying to 'fundamentally transform' america. He is maybe the single best liar and con-artist in history.
Even when you do realise this, you STILL dont want to believe it..thats how good he is.
-
I didnt start out an obama hater. I thought most of the stuff against him was made up or exaggerrated. Over time though it has become abundantly clear that a lot of what people had warned about is playing out before our eyes and that he actually is an enormous threat to our country.
He truly is a left wing radical and he truly is trying to 'fundamentally transform' america. He is maybe the single best liar and con-artist in history.
Even when you do realise this, you STILL dont want to believe it..thats how good he is.
Agree. I wanted him to succeed his first term, but he showed essentially out of the gate that he is a garden variety dishonest ideologue. No question he is dangerous. Imagine how much worse it would be if he had Congress.
Regarding the emails, it screams of a coverup, and I rarely make that accusation.
-
Agree. I wanted him to succeed his first term, but he showed essentially out of the gate that he is a garden variety dishonest ideologue. No question he is dangerous. Imagine how much worse it would be if he had Congress.
Regarding the emails, it screams of a coverup, and I rarely make that accusation.
I had a like a 2 second lapse of judgment wanting him to succeed. Now I just want him to fly off to Kenya
-
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/white-house-learned-lerners-crashed-hard-drive-6-weeks-congress#.U6Rg7p_REu0.facebook
-
KOSKINEN TESTIFIES AT HOUSE HEARING ON TARGETING OF CONSERVATIVE GROUPS
Launch Live Player
Politics Home
Midterm Elections
Executive
Senate
House of Representatives
Defense
Judiciary
Scandals
Fox News First
Why the IRS scandal won’t die
-
It is incredible that the hard drives that crashed were the ones that contained Lerner's emails. It was limited to her emails and anyone associated with this scandal. What happened to the servers? They don't back up anything at the IRS?
It's very convenient.
-
The real problem here isn't the emails sent from Lerner's IRS mail addy....you can comb through the other IRS employees emails to find a shit ton of those. Problem is...she isn't stupid enough to use that email address for anything shady. If you had her hard drive from her computer you could find out what email addresses she used from other mail services like gmail, Hotmail..etc...to conduct "off books" operations.
-
One of the top Republican congressmen was saying yesterday that there should NOT be a special prosecutor. According to him, it would turn it all into a closed-door affair that the admin would continue to stonewall and most people would simply forget about.
-
Interesting to see so many democrats...the voice of the little man against the machine..licking the boots of the IRS because someone dared question them about their obvious obstruction of justice.
-
She will be given a very lucrative job, facilitated *quietly* through the white house, which will be "exposed" at a later date by some journalist, who will then be put on the terrorist watch list.
-
Interesting to see so many democrats...the voice of the little man against the machine..licking the boots of the IRS because someone dared question them about their obvious obstruction of justice.
Democrat party has conned most of the American public. The low information voter that turns out every 4 years to vote doesn't look past the facade which is why morons like obamatheclown are elected.
-
Democrat party has conned most of the American public. The low information voter that turns out every 4 years to vote doesn't look past the facade which is why morons like obamatheclown are elected.
What country kicked you out again, Dario? C'mon, fess up.
You've admitted that you're not a natural-born citizen of the USA already so I'm not sure why you're ashamed to admit which country you're from.
I'm guessing that knowing your home country would provide a lot of insight into why you're the fearful and humorless retard that you seem to be here on this board.
-
This administration is easily the most corrupt in modern history.
you should take a quick look at the Reagan Administration
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_administration_scandals
-
"When we said we're giving you all the emails...we didn't mean we were giving you the ones we destroyed" That..in a nutshell..is the current IRS line.
-
you should take a quick look at the Reagan Administration
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_administration_scandals
You should take your head out of your rear end. Reagan's administration were saints compared to the useless garbage you voted for.
-
Free Republic
Browse · Search Pings · Mail News/Activism
Topics · Post Article
Skip to comments.
Rep. Gowdy tells the IRS why destroying evidence is bad
Human Events ^ | June 24, 2014 | John Hayward
Posted on June 24, 2014 9:56:46 AM EDT by don-o
The trick to keeping up with Obama scandals is to avoid letting today’s history-shredding world-in-flames foreign-policy disaster distract you from yesterday’s crisis of administrative incompetence and bureaucratic looting at the VA, or the abuse of power at the IRS before that. It’s interesting how the concept of “scandal fatigue” only bubbles from the media’s imagination during Democrat Administrations. Under Republicans, they link all the scandals together into a narrative, where they reinforce each other; a straight line would be drawn from Obama laughing about the lack of shovel-ready jobs in his trillion-dollar “stimulus” to Obama trying to wave off the VA scandal, or his White House pushing the myth about rogue low-level employees in Cincinnati being responsible for the IRS targeting of conservative groups.
But Obama’s press has grown, at worst, slightly exasperated with the endless cavalcade of ineptitude and fishy behavior pouring out of his White House. They let each new scandal reset the game board and erase whatever came before. Six years in, with Obama cratering in the polls, they’re starting to write stories about how exhausting all the Congressional hearings and searing agency audits are.
(Excerpt) Read more at humanevents.com ...
-
"When we said we're giving you all the emails...we didn't mean we were giving you the ones we destroyed" That..in a nutshell..is the current IRS line.
great point assuming you're not going by the standard of most investigations, indictments and convictions because if you're going by that standard then Reagan in the hands down winner
I'll let you get back to right wing imagination land
-
great point assuming you're not going by the standard of most investigations, indictments and convictions because if you're going by that standard then Reagan in the hands down winner
I'll let you get back to right wing imagination land
Lmfao. Excuses excuses excuses.
-
Free Republic
Browse · Search Pings · Mail News/Activism
Topics · Post Article
Skip to comments.
Archivist: IRS didn't follow law re lost emails
AP via Yahoo News ^ | 6/24/14 | Eileen Sullivan
Posted on June 24, 2014 12:45:59 PM EDT by Kartographer
The nation's top archivist says the Internal Revenue Service did not follow the law when it failed to report the loss of records belonging to a senior IRS executive.
David Ferriero says federal law requires that government agencies must notify the National Archives and Records Administration when it becomes aware that federal records are lost.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
-
Free Republic
Browse · Search Pings · Mail News/Activism
Topics · Post Article
Skip to comments.
IRS Wanted Lois Lerner Emails To Disappear
Investor's Business Daily ^ | June 24, 2014 | IBD EDITORIALS
Posted on June 24, 2014 12:52:31 PM EDT by raptor22
Scandal: The IRS canceled a contract with an email storage contractor weeks after Lois Lerner reported lost personal files and before other IRS officials had their hard drives crash as Tea Party-targeting investigations began.
Timing is everything, the saying goes, and sometimes the timing of events is also very curious, as in the case of the lost emails of Lerner and at least six other officials at the very same time the IRS canceled its contract to back up and preserve those emails as required by federal law.
Lerner's computer supposedly crashed in June 2011, an alleged event the IRS concealed from the American public and congressional investigators for two years.
This event, which cannot be verified because her hard drive has since been destroyed and recycled, occurred just 10 days after House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Dave Camp first wrote a letter asking if the IRS was engaging in targeting of nonprofit groups.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...
-
Free Republic
Browse · Search Pings · Mail News/Activism
Topics · Post Article
Skip to comments.
IRS Wanted Lois Lerner Emails To Disappear
Investor's Business Daily ^ | June 24, 2014 | IBD EDITORIALS
Posted on June 24, 2014 12:52:31 PM EDT by raptor22
Scandal: The IRS canceled a contract with an email storage contractor weeks after Lois Lerner reported lost personal files and before other IRS officials had their hard drives crash as Tea Party-targeting investigations began.
Timing is everything, the saying goes, and sometimes the timing of events is also very curious, as in the case of the lost emails of Lerner and at least six other officials at the very same time the IRS canceled its contract to back up and preserve those emails as required by federal law.
Lerner's computer supposedly crashed in June 2011, an alleged event the IRS concealed from the American public and congressional investigators for two years.
This event, which cannot be verified because her hard drive has since been destroyed and recycled, occurred just 10 days after House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Dave Camp first wrote a letter asking if the IRS was engaging in targeting of nonprofit groups.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...
looks like they timed it rather well.
-
great point assuming you're not going by the standard of most investigations, indictments and convictions because if you're going by that standard then Reagan in the hands down winner
I'll let you get back to right wing imagination land
Give me a fucking break...the initial spin that tea party groups were not targeted was shown to be false....the notion that it was few "bad apples" in Cincy was shown to be false...the defense that Liberal groups were also scrutinized was shown to be false. The woman in charge of this operation, Lois Lerner, had a history of applying heightened scrutiny to conservative groups when she was at the FEC. She had a plant in the audience ask question about all this at the ABA conference because she knows the Inspector General has completed his report and the lid is about to come off and she wants to get out in front of it. She then goes before Congress to PLEAD THE FIFTH and then after months of stonewalling her and her IRS cronies suddenly reveal that all their emails were gone due to a simultaneous computer crash and no effort was made to extract the data from the back up tapes (even though those emails were already subpoenaed by Congress) before the original hard drives were destroyed and the back up tapes were erased. Failing to disclose the data loss at the time it occurred to the National Archives is a violation of Federal records laws....but that doesn't matter to them...they didn't want the data recovered. They didn't want anyone to see the data from Lerner's computer. Only a fool would look at this scenario and think there isn't a massive cover up going on here.
Is this abuse of power by the IRS imaginary too?
http://dailysignal.com/2014/06/24/irs-admits-wrongdoing-pay-50000-leaking-marriage-groups-tax-return/
-
7 Hard Drives Failing: What are the odds? These are the odds. [IRS SCANDAL]
American Digest ^ | June 22, 2014 | Gerard Vanderleun
Posted on 6/24/2014 4:29:22 PM by QT3.14
I run a data center. Disk drives that are left running continuously last between two and three years. Three years is about 36 months.
The odds of a disk failing in any given month are roughly one in 36. The odds of two different drives failing in the same month are roughly one in 36 squared, or 1 in about 1,300. The odds of three drives failing in the same month is 36 cubed or 1 in 46,656. The odds of seven different drives failing in the same month is 37 to the 7th power = 1 in 78,664,164,096.
(Excerpt) Read more at americandigest.org ...
-
Lmfao. Excuses excuses excuses.
just facts
you would think even bottom of the barrel debt collector could understand that but apparently not so in your case
-
just facts
you would think even bottom of the barrel debt collector could understand that but apparently not so in your case
LOL you little sick frail twinkie - you have nothing left at all in this corrupt junta you worship
-
LOL you little sick frail twinkie - you have nothing left at all in this corrupt junta you worship
Save your comes on for the funboys down at the bathhouse where you spend your evenings
You know nothing about what I look like but I've seen your pics and you'd look like a child standing next to me so save your fantasies for someone else
I know you hate facts but the fact is that the Reagan administration was the most corrupt ever
Go get your shinebox
-
Free Republic
Browse · Search Pings · Mail News/Activism
Topics · Post Article
Skip to comments.
IRS ADMITS LEAKING CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION Used Against Mitt Romney in 2012 Elections
The Gateway Pundit ^ | 6/24/14 | Jim Hoft
Posted on June 24, 2014 at 8:54:18 PM EDT by Nachum
The conservative group National Organization of Marriage accused the IRS of leaking documents to the Obama Campaign in 2012. A top Obama campaign official Joe Solomese used the information to attack Mitt Romney during the 2012 election. The Huffington Post used the leaked documents in a story questioning former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s support for traditional marriage. The document showed Romney donated $10,000 to NOM.
The IRS agreed this week to pay only $50,000 in damages to the National Organization for Marriage after leaking confidential information to a leading gay marriage group. The Daily Signal reported, via Free Republic:
Two years after activists for same-sex marriage obtained the confidential tax return and donor list of a national group opposed to redefining marriage, the Internal Revenue Service has admitted wrongdoing and agreed to settle the resulting lawsuit.
The Daily Signal has learned that, under a consent judgment today, the IRS agreed to pay $50,000 in damages to the National Organization for Marriage as a result of the unlawful release of the confidential information to a gay rights group, the Human Rights Campaign, that is NOM’s chief political rival.
(Excerpt) Read more at thegatewaypundit.com ...
-
Give me a fucking break...the initial spin that tea party groups were not targeted was shown to be false....the notion that it was few "bad apples" in Cincy was shown to be false...the defense that Liberal groups were also scrutinized was shown to be false. The woman in charge of this operation, Lois Lerner, had a history of applying heightened scrutiny to conservative groups when she was at the FEC. She had a plant in the audience ask question about all this at the ABA conference because she knows the Inspector General has completed his report and the lid is about to come off and she wants to get out in front of it. She then goes before Congress to PLEAD THE FIFTH and then after months of stonewalling her and her IRS cronies suddenly reveal that all their emails were gone due to a simultaneous computer crash and no effort was made to extract the data from the back up tapes (even though those emails were already subpoenaed by Congress) before the original hard drives were destroyed and the back up tapes were erased. Failing to disclose the data loss at the time it occurred to the National Archives is a violation of Federal records laws....but that doesn't matter to them...they didn't want the data recovered. They didn't want anyone to see the data from Lerner's computer. Only a fool would look at this scenario and think there isn't a massive cover up going on here.
Is this abuse of power by the IRS imaginary too?
http://dailysignal.com/2014/06/24/irs-admits-wrongdoing-pay-50000-leaking-marriage-groups-tax-return/
I always forget the name of the teabag group that was denied 501(c)(4) status
"Patriot" something?
-
Really? That's your defense? 2013 wants you to come back and get educated....
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/05/14/irs-tea-party-progressive-groups/2158831/
-
Really? That's your defense? 2013 wants you to come back and get educated....
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/05/14/irs-tea-party-progressive-groups/2158831/
even one name is fine
-
Save your comes on for the funboys down at the bathhouse where you spend your evenings
You know nothing about what I look like but I've seen your pics and you'd look like a child standing next to me so save your fantasies for someone else
I know you hate facts but the fact is that the Reagan administration was the most corrupt ever
Go get your shinebox
Does that make it okay for this (and any future administration) to be corrupt?
-
Skip to comments.
IRS Email Jeopardy: The agency had a legal obligation to retain the records it lost
The Wall Street Journal ^ | June 24, 2014 | Wall Street Journal Editorial Page
Posted on June 24, 2014 at 9:36:48 PM EDT by JOHN ADAMS
The IRS is spinning a tale of bureaucratic incompetence to explain the vanishing emails from former Tax Exempt Organizations doyenne Lois Lerner and six other IRS employees. We have less faith by the minute that there is an innocent explanation for this failure to cooperate with Congress, but even if true it doesn't matter. The IRS was under a legal obligation to retain the information because of a litigation hold.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
-
even one name is fine
I think I know the answer to this question...but what exactly is your point?
-
Does that make it okay for this (and any future administration) to be corrupt?
did I say it did
all I did was remind John Matrix that his statement that this was the most corrupt administration in modern history was not even remotely close to being true
-
I think I know the answer to this question...but what exactly is your point?
was it "Freedom" something?
-
Your inability to answer direct questions leads me to think you work for the IRS...
-
Your inability to answer direct questions leads me to think you work for the IRS...
did you answer my question ?
perhaps you also work for the IRS
-
You're being deliberately obtuse...I've laid out in great detail my issues with the IRS conduct. You seem interested in mounting a defense, but seem unable to coherently articulate one. I'm simply trying to help you by walking you through a process you seem ill equipped to handle.
-
StrawMan, standing out like the elephant in the room. You are alone buddy, your fellow retards are waking up. What about you?
-
Let's review
the IRS must determine whether a group qualifies for 501c4 Status
the IRS gave extra scrutiny to both Democratic and Republican groups
the IRS did not deny status to any Republican groups but did deny status to Democratic groups (sidebar - they should have denied to status to ALL political groups who did not meet the actual standards of a 501c4)
I already said this on page 1 of this thread
If Issa really wanted to investigate he would simply offer her immunity
He is not doing this because he already has all the information and knows there was nothing improper and then this scandal goes away
His motivation is not to investigate but to keep this scandal alive so they can use it as political fodder in the elections
BTW - the larger issue is the discrepancy in how the law was written by Congress vs. the IRS redefining a law (do they have that power)
The IRS must (as mandated by both the law and even their own rule) to determine whether political groups actually qualify for tax exempt status
Also keep in mind that no right wing group was even denied tax exempt status so all the IRS did was look at them and said essentially "you're fine...move along"
that's your entire "scandal"
Here the law written by Congress and then the rule written by the IRS
The current version of the Revenue Act of 1913 provides a tax exemption for:
26 U.S.C. § 501(c)(4)(A)
Civil leagues or organizations not organized for profit but operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare or local associations of employees, the membership of which is limited to the employees of a designated person or persons in a particular municipality, and the net earnings of which are devoted exclusively to charitable, educational, or recreational purposes.
Then in 1959 the IRS redefined the term "promotion of social welfare" to depart radically from the statute:
Treas. Reg. § 1.501(c)(4)-1(a)(2)(i)
[a]n organization is operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare if it is primarily engaged in promoting in some way the common good and general welfare of the people of the community. An organization embraced within this section is one which is operated primarily for the purpose of bringing about civic betterments and social improvements.
-
StrawMan, standing out like the elephant in the room. You are alone buddy, your fellow retards are waking up. What about you?
He isn't alone, "agenda21nwo" (lol, holy shit, are you a teenager?).
I'll agree that it seems like something sort of illegal probably happened here.
But is it as big a deal as y'all would like it to be? Uh, I haven't seen any reason to think so yet.
Honestly, I think tax-exempt status is enjoyed by far too many in this country. If it were up to me, I'd be taxing churches so maybe I'm a little out of the mainstream with my thoughts about such shit.
-
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/laura-flint/2014/06/25/jon-stewart-irs-borders-criminal-idiocy?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Marketing+&utm_term=Facebook&utm_content=socialflow&utm_campaign=stewart-irs
Stewart slams the IRS
-
Let's review
the IRS must determine whether a group qualifies for 501c4 Status
the IRS gave extra scrutiny to both Democratic and Republican groups
the IRS did not deny status to any Republican groups but did deny status to Democratic groups (sidebar - they should have denied to status to ALL political groups who did not meet the actual standards of a 501c4)
I already said this on page 1 of this thread
Point 1 is false....democrat groups did not get the same type or level scrutiny "tea party" groups did.
http://oversight.house.gov/release/new-oversight-report-debunks-myth-liberal-groups-targeted-irs/
Point 2 is irrelevant...you don't have to deny the application to show bias...in fact it's a smarter tactic to do what the IRS did. If you say "no" you have to cite a reason for doing so and respond to an appeal. If you follow the IRS playbook and drag the process out for months or years, the groups in question stay on the sidelines and yo don't have to answer for anything unless you're somehow caught. (then you just destroy the evidence and shrug). That was the goal from the outset, keep these groups from having a level playing field. They succeeded in doing so...
-
feel free to post ANYTHING supporting your claims
Also feel free to actually address the fact that the law says that 501c4 must be "operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare" and and a rule redefined it (I didn't know the IRS could change laws) to it is "primarily engaged in promoting in some way the common good"....which is why the IRS was looking at political groups in the first place
The IRS was not violating any law by giving any group it deemed necessary more scrutiny
-
I did...the oversight committee found your claim of equal scrutiny to be false and I provided a link to a news article that substantiates it. As tot he rest of the story...go back and review the volumes of testimony from citizens who testified under oath before Congress. Their stories..unlike the IRS's are amazingly consistent.
Leaving aside the obvious issues of an equal application of the law and the issues surrounding a coordination of government agencies to prevent people from exercising ther right to free speech on a level playing field. If there's no concern over legality/illegality...why has Lois Lerner plead the 5th?
-
I did...the oversight committee found your claim of equal scrutiny to be false and I provided a link to a news article that substantiates it. As tot he rest of the story...go back and review the volumes of testimony from citizens who testified under oath before Congress. Their stories..unlike the IRS's are amazingly consistent.
Leaving aside the obvious issues of an equal application of the law and the issues surrounding a coordination of government agencies to prevent people from exercising ther right to free speech on a level playing field. If there's no concern over legality/illegality...why has Lois Lerner plead the 5th?
right, the report from Darrell Issa claiming more scrutiny of TeaBag groups yet somehow only Democratic groups wound up getting denied
Here's another source suggesting the claim by Issa is false
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2014/04/23/3429722/irs-records-tea-party/
This has nothing to do with "right to free speech"
It has to do with right to a tax exempt status and contradictions in the law vs. an internal guideline which necessitated the scrutiny in the first place.
No group (Dem or Repub) had their free speech restricted
-
Emails: IRS Official [Lerner] Sought Audit of GOP Senator [Grassley]
ABC News ^ | June 25, 2014 | STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
Posted on June 25, 2014 at 5:07:57 PM EDT by cdga5for4
Edited on June 25, 2014 at 5:12:29 PM EDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Congressional investigators have uncovered emails showing that a former Internal Revenue Service official at the heart of the tea party investigation sought an audit of a Republican senator in December 2012.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
TOPICS: Breaking News; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Click to Add Topic
-
Tea party groups were flagged for review and that was either inappropriate (per democrats) or illegal (everyone else)
The scrutiny applied to the tea party groups and liberal groups was NOT equal...tea party groups were asked 3-4 times as many follow up questions.
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/354850/no-irs-did-not-target-progressives-it-targeted-conservatives-david-french
The IRS did not follow federal law in response to their alleged hard drive "crashes". They did not follow the law in erasing the back up tapes...they did not attempt to retrieve the emails from the tapes because it would have been "too hard" (per Snake Koskinen himself).
This was not a few rogue elements....this was a concerted effort carried out at the behest of the fine folks at IRS HQ (at the urging of congressmen and Senators like Elijah Cummings (who has his own ethics issues in this) ad Chuckie Shumer.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-new-documents-show-irs-hq-control-tea-party-targeting/
Of course this is an issue of free speech...the people forming this groups have the same rights to educate their communities as liberal groups do...by applying extra layers of bureaucracy and deliberately delaying their ability to form these groups based solely on their POV they were deprived of that right.
-
Good ol' Lois wants to audit a US Senator when there's no evidence of wrongdoing....
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/06/26/lerner-sought-irs-audit-sitting-gop-senator-emails-show/
Does anyone still doubt that this woman is a politically motivated zealot who had no business being anywhere near a position of authority?
-
Good ol' Lois wants to audit a US Senator when there's no evidence of wrongdoing....
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/06/26/lerner-sought-irs-audit-sitting-gop-senator-emails-show/
Does anyone still doubt that this woman is a politically motivated zealot who had no business being anywhere near a position of authority?
It's obvious to anyone who is not a blind ideologue what was going on.
After this whole missing e-mail thing, there's no way any objective person can continue to deny and defend this.
And with the whole "local agents in Cincinnati" thing, the stonewalling, her talking to the AG, the frequent IRS visits to the Whithouse, and the president signaling to his sheep in Congress and the AG office that there was "not a smidgen of corruption", it's quite obvious that this went way up beyond her. Of course they won't ever be able to prove it. Barry's loyal bootlickers will fall on as many knives as they have to to protect him.
All his worshipers can do now is say Bush and others did the same thing, they did worse, even blame Bush, attack those who point out the obvious, etc... or else change the subject entirely. Some even want more money thrown at the IRS. ::)
-
Lois Lerner?
I fucked her!
That fuckin' whore! :-X
-
Lois Lerner Targeted Chuck Grassley After He Blocked Obama’s DOJ Tax Nominee
Daily Caller ^ | 7-1-2014 | Patrick Howley
Posted on 7/1/2014 11:32:18 PM by smoothsailing
July 1, 2014
Lois Lerner Targeted Chuck Grassley After He Blocked Obama’s DOJ Tax Nominee
Patrick Howley
Ex-Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner tried to audit Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley after Grassley blocked President Obama’s nominee to head the Department of Justice (DOJ) tax division, an executive branch insider told The Daily Caller.
Grassley made it more difficult for the IRS and DOJ to work together to target conservative groups by blocking Obama’s political appointee Mary L. Smith from taking over the DOJ Tax Division, which prosecutes criminal cases for the IRS. Grassley held up the nomination in early 2010, just as Lerner and fellow IRS officials were mapping out their targeting strategy. The White House later withdrew Smith’s nomination.
The source confirmed to The Daily Caller that the White House and IRS officials “were very upset at Senator Grassley and Republicans for blocking a vote on Mary Smith’s nomination.”
The IRS relies on the DOJ Tax Division to prosecute both criminal and civil cases, and has entire legal teams devoted to making DOJ referrals. Placing a political appointee as assistant attorney general for the DOJ Tax Division was a top priority for the Obama White House.
Grassley made sure that no Obama political nominee got confirmed for the post, and kept in a “career,” or non-political, DOJ tax head for another two years.
“The Assistant Attorney General is not the kind of position that you probably would want someone learning on the job,” Grassley said at a Feb. 4, 2010 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, pointing out Smith’s lack of tax experience.
Lerner’s IRS underling Nikole Flax announced the agency’s new scrutiny of nonprofit groups in February 2010, the very same month that Grassley made his concerns known about Smith. Grassley’s opposition to Smith infuriated top officials at the IRS.
Smith was heavily touted by the administration for her Native American background. Smith worked on President Clinton’s re-election campaign and as Clinton’s Associate Counsel to the President and was a partner at the Chicago law firm Schoeman Updike Kaufman & Scharf when Obama nominated her for the position in 2009.
Grassley remained a thorn in the side of the IRS, scrutinizing the activities of Lerner’s Exempt Organizations division more closely than other lawmakers during Obama’s first term.
Lerner finally tried to drum up a criminal case against Grassley after accidentally receiving some of his mail.
“Perhaps we should refer to exam?” Lerner wrote to colleagues in 2012 after she received an invitation from a group asking Grassley to speak at a December 2012 event and offering to pay Grassley’s wife to attend. Lerner and Grassley were both invited to speak at the same event, hosted by an organization that had its name redacted from released congressional documents. Lerner felt that the group’s offer to pay for Grassley’s wife could be a potential criminal violation.
“We would need to wait for: (i) Grassley to accept and attend the speaking arrangement and (ii) then determine whether [redacted] issues him a 1099,” IRS official Matthew Giuliano replied to Lerner, thinking aloud about the circumstances they would need to make a criminal case against Grassley.
“We have seen a lot of unbelievable things in this investigation, but the fact that Lois Lerner attempted to initiate an apparently baseless IRS examination against a sitting Republican United States Senator is shocking,” said Republican House Ways and Committee chairman Rep. Dave Camp upon the publication of Lerner’s email regarding Grassley.
-
.....and today we learn that Lois was warning IRS employees to hide information..
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jul/9/gop-lerner-warned-irs-employees-hide-information/
Starting to look less likely that she "lost" her emails...
-
.....and today we learn that Lois was warning IRS employees to hide information..
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jul/9/gop-lerner-warned-irs-employees-hide-information/
Starting to look less likely that she "lost" her emails...
every good lawyer, CPA, broker suggests to their clients not to send sensitive info in emails. it's just common sense.
-
every good lawyer, CPA, broker suggests to their clients not to send sensitive info in emails. it's just common sense.
So does every crook.
Too bad she didn't follow the same line of thinking when she sent out that confidential list of private conservative donors.
-
every good lawyer, CPA, broker suggests to their clients not to send sensitive info in emails. it's just common sense.
Riiiiight...they specifically say 'watch what you say in email because it might wind up in the possession of Congress" while they can speak more freely on IM because they aren't stored because it's common sense....if you're breaking the law.
-
Good.
Federal judge orders IRS to explain lost Lerner emails ‘under oath’
Published July 10, 2014
FoxNews.com
A federal judge has ordered the IRS to explain "under oath" how the agency lost a trove of emails from the official at the heart of the Tea Party targeting scandal.
U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan gave the tax agency 30 days to file a declaration by an "appropriate official" to address the computer issues with ex-official Lois Lerner.
The decision came Thursday as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, which along with GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill has questioned how the IRS lost the emails and, in some cases, had no apparent way to retrieve them.
The IRS first acknowledged it lost the emails in a letter to senators last month.
"In our view, there has been a cover-up that has been going on," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. "The Department of Justice, the IRS, had an obligation, an absolute obligation ... to alert the court and alert Judicial Watch as soon as they knew when these records were supposedly lost."
The IRS says it lost the emails in 2011 when Lerner's computer crashed. At the time, Lerner headed the IRS division that processes applications for tax-exempt status. She has since retired.
During the court hearing, Sullivan indicated he wanted the portion of the declaration on the computer issues to be wide-ranging, saying "that's about as broad as I can make it."
It also emerged at the status hearing that a Treasury Department inspector general probe into the matter is underway.
The lawyer representing the IRS, Geoffrey Klimas, argued that any further discovery in this case might impede the IG's investigation.
Sullivan seemed leery of that argument and also asked that the IRS official speak to that subject in the explanation the agency submits.
Further, Sullivan ordered that the IRS official explain how Lerner's files may be recovered through "other sources."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/07/10/federal-judge-orders-irs-to-explain-lost-lerner-emails-under-oath/
-
Second federal judge tells IRS to explain lost Lerner emails
Published July 11, 2014
FoxNews.com
A second federal judge has now ordered the IRS to explain under oath how the agency lost emails from former division director Lois Lerner, the woman at the heart of the Tea Party targeting scandal.
U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton told Obama administration lawyers on Friday he wants to see an affidavit explaining what happened with Lerner's hard drive. The IRS claims her computer suffered a crash in 2011 that wiped her email records at the time clean.
But at a hearing examining a lawsuit against the IRS by conservative group True the Vote, Walton said he wants to know what happened to Lerner's hard drive, which allegedly was recycled. He asked for an affidavit from those involved in handling the crashed drive.
The order is another boost for those questioning the agency's claims that many Lerner emails from that time period are not recoverable.
A day earlier, in a separate case brought by conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan gave the tax agency 30 days to file a declaration by an "appropriate official" to address the computer issues involving Lerner.
In that case, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton alleged there "has been a cover-up that has been going on."
After the True the Vote hearing, group counsel Cleta Mitchell accused the IRS of playing a "shell game," by arguing that the plaintiffs could not prove any emails were lost.
True the Vote brought its case to court after facing multiple inquiries and extra scrutiny from the IRS, the FBI and other federal agencies.
True the Vote is now seeking a motion to speed up discovery and "preserve and prevent further destruction" of IRS emails and missing documents.
The group also wants a forensic expert to investigate how the emails were lost and examine whether the data is recoverable.
"The fact that the IRS is statutorily required to preserve these records yet nevertheless publicly claimed that they have been 'lost' appears to evidence bad faith," Mitchell wrote in a letter last month to the tax-collecting agency.
Lerner, who has since retired, headed the IRS unit that reviews applications for tax-exempt status, at the time when the agency was accused of subjecting conservative groups to additional scrutiny.
Meanwhile, Texas Republican Rep. Steve Stockman took things a step further on Friday, filing a resolution directing the House sergeant-at-arms to arrest Lerner on charges of contempt of Congress.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/07/11/second-federal-judge-tells-irs-to-explain-lost-lerner-emails/
-
nothing will happen because the US Attorney won't prosecute because Lerner did not commit contempt and legally invoked the 5th amendment
but, Repubs will accomplish their goal of having another phony scandal to talk about on the campaign trail
LOL - I'm not a lawyer yet it was obvious to me 2 months ago that this is what would happen.
Not sure why our resident make believe lawyer didn't see this coming?
Maybe because he spends his day posting about how Obama is gay and speculating on the state of his marriage.....you know like any other make believe straight guy would do.
Side note: Issa is a fucking moron.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/19/darrell-issa-contempt_n_5600789.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
Republicans Freak Out At Learning Reagan Decree Protects Lois Lerner
Posted: 07/19/2014 7:30 am EDT | Updated: 07/21/2014 9:59 am EDT
WASHINGTON -- Although legal experts warned at the time that little would come of Rep. Darrell Issa's (R-Calif.) attempt to prosecute former IRS official Lois Lerner for contempt of Congress, Republicans on Issa's Oversight and Government Reform Committee were infuriated to learn Thursday that a key obstacle is a Reagan administration legal opinion.
Issa's committee and then the full House voted to hold Lerner in contempt because she twice asserted her Fifth Amendment right in refusing to testify about her role in the IRS's botched screening of political nonprofits. She led the unit that oversees whether such groups get tax breaks, and was in charge when an inspector general found the IRS used "inappropriate" terms that largely singled out conservative groups.
When Congress finds a person in contempt, the matter is referred to federal prosecutors to be brought before a grand jury.
Legal experts advised against taking the step, and one of them, Gregory Gilchrist, told HuffPost at the time that it was unlikely a prosecutor would take up such a case, even though federal law spells out that pathway.
The reason, he said, is that not only were the facts in the case weak, but courts have historically given prosecutors wide leeway in deciding whether to bring cases.
"I just can't imagine that they would proceed with the case," Gilchrist said. "Unless the U.S. attorney takes a different view of the merits than I do, which I don't expect he will, I don't see any way this ends up in an actual charge."
At Thursday's hearing, several Republicans demanded that Deputy Attorney General James Cole explain why prosecutors had not already moved forward.
"This Congress held Lois Lerner in contempt, geez, almost nine weeks ago," Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) said, citing the procedure that's spelled out in law that says the prosecutor's duty "shall be to bring the matter before the grand jury."
But Cole noted that the prosecutor still gets to decide.
"My understanding of the law is that it does not strip the U.S. attorney of the normal discretion that the U.S. attorney has," Cole said. "He proceeds with the case if he believes it is appropriate to do so."
His answer infuriated Republicans, especially Issa, who demanded proof.
"If you think that's discretionary, would you please give that back to us in a legal opinion so that we can change the law to make it clear you're wrong," Issa said.
Issa's Democratic counterpart on the committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.) was happy to find that opinion himself, written by conservative lawyer Theodore Olson when he worked for President Ronald Reagan's Office of Legal Counsel in 1984.
"What it says is, 'We believe Congress may not direct the executive to prosecute a particular individual without leaving any discretion to the executive to determine whether a violation of the law has occurred.' That's what the opinion says -- a 1984 opinion dated May 30," Cummings said. "This was a contempt citation coming from Congress that he was talking about."
The Obama administration wouldn't be the first to rely on that opinion. The White House also cited it under Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. And although Issa described it as a "new" assertion in the hearing, his own committee heard it in 2012 when Congress voted to hold the attorney general himself in contempt. Indeed, the letter asserting it was written by Cole, and Issa was CC'd.
-
The plot sickens.
House investigators: IRS tech experts say Lerner’s hard drive only 'scratched,' not destroyed
Published July 22, 2014
FoxNews.com
House investigators said Tuesday that the computer hard drive of ex-agency official Lois Lerner -- a key figure in the IRS targeting scandal -- was only “scratched,” not irreparably damaged, as Americans have been led to believe.
GOP-led Ways and Means Committee investigators, in their quest to recover missing Lerner emails, learned her hard drive was damaged but recoverable by talking to IRS information-technology experts, after the government originally refused to make them available, according to the committee.
“It is unbelievable that we cannot get a simple, straight answer from the IRS about this hard drive,” said committee Chairman Dave Camp.
The Michigan Republican said the new information also raises more questions about potential criminal wrongdoing at the IRS because the committee was told no data was recoverable and the physical hard drive was recycled and potentially shredded.
In addition, learning that the hard drive was only scratched also raises questions about why the IRS refused to use outside experts to recover the data.
“In fact, in-house professionals at the IRS recommended the agency seek outside assistance in recovering the data,” the committee said Tuesday in a release.
House investigators said they also are trying to determine whether the scratch was accidental or deliberate.
“If the IRS would just come clean and tell Congress and the American people what really happened, we could put an end to this,” Camp said. “Our investigators will not stop until we find the full truth.”
Lerner was the IRS’s exempt organizations director during the period of 2009 to mid-2011 -- when applications for tax-exempt status from Tea Party groups and other conservative organizations were held up for extra scrutiny.
The committee also said the information gleamed from the new interviews conflicts with a July 18 IRS court filing that states the data on the hard drive was unrecoverable -- including years of missing emails.
On June 13, more than one year into the investigation, and one month after the committee was promised it would receive all of Lerner’s emails, Congress learned that potentially thousands of them, over roughly two years, were destroyed as a result of a 2011 computer crash.
The recent interviews are bolstered by former federal law-enforcement and Defense Department forensic experts also telling investigators that most of the data on a scratched drive should be recoverable, the committee said.
A declaration filed Friday by the IRS stated the agency tried but failed to recover the data. The agency also said it is not sure what happened to the hard drive, other than saying they think it was recycled, which according to the court filing means “shredded.”
The committee also said a review of internal IRS documents found Lerner’s computer was actually described as “recovered.”
The targeting to the groups applying to the IRS was made public in May 2013 by Lerner. She has since refused to testify before Congress, invoking the Fifth Amendment, and resigned in September 2013.
The IRS has turned over tens of thousands of emails to and from Lerner’s account and says it has recovered thousands of others that were lost when her government-issued computer crashed.
Democrats say there is no scandal and that Republicans are trying to turn it into an election-year issue.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, protested Monday about the continuing House investigations, including his committee’s plans to call IRS Commissioner John Koskinen to testify on Wednesday, for the third time over the past month.
"This public harassment of an agency head is not only an abuse of authority, but a dereliction of the committee's obligation to conduct responsible oversight on a host of other critical issues within our jurisdiction," he said.
Investigators also are still trying to learn whether the targeting of conservative groups was ordered by the White House.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/07/22/house-investigators-irs-tech-experts-say-lerners-hard-drive-only-scratched-not/
-
Exactly the kind of person we want working in a high level IRS job. ::) How many other people like her work for the IRS?
Lois Lerner Criticized GOP As 'Crazies,' 'Assholes' In Emails
AP | By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
Posted: 07/30/2014
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former IRS official at the heart of the agency's tea party controversy called conservative Republicans "crazies" and more in emails released Wednesday.
Lois Lerner headed the IRS division that handles applications for tax-exempt status. In a series of emails with a colleague in November 2012, Lerner made two disparaging remarks about members of the GOP, including one remark that was profane.
Rep. Dave Camp, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, released the emails Wednesday as part of his committee's investigation. The Michigan Republican says the emails show Lerner's "disgust with conservatives."
In one email, Lerner called members of the GOP crazies. In the other, she called them "assholes." The committee redacted the wording to "_holes" in the material it released publicly but a committee spokeswoman confirmed to the AP that the email said "assholes."
Congress and the Justice Department are investigating whether the IRS improperly scrutinized applications for tax-exempt status from conservative groups.
Camp sent copies of the emails to the Justice Department, saying they provide further proof that Lerner willfully targeted conservatives.
Lerner has since retired from the agency. Her lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lerner has emerged as a central figure in several congressional investigations into the IRS' handling of applications for tax-exempt status by tea party and other conservative groups. Twice Lerner refused to answer questions at congressional hearings, invoking her constitutional right against self-incrimination.
In June, the IRS told Congress that an untold number of Lerner's emails were lost when her computer hard drive crashed in 2011.
In the newly released emails, Lerner was apparently traveling in Great Britain when she uses her Blackberry to send a series of emails to a colleague at the IRS. Camp said Lerner was using her government email account.
Lerner tells her colleague that she overheard some women say America was bankrupt and "going down the tubes."
"Well, you should hear the whacko wing of the GOP," replied her colleague, whose name is blacked out. "The US is through; too many foreigners sucking the teat; time to hunker down, buy ammo and food, and prepare for the end. The right wing radio shows are scary to listen to."
Lerner replies: "Great. Maybe we are through if there are that many assholes."
Her colleague replies: "And I'm talking about the hosts of the shows. The callers are rabid."
Lerner: "So we don't need to worry about alien teRrorists. It's our own crazies that will take us down."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/30/lois-lerner-emails-_n_5634379.html
-
Exactly the kind of person we want working in a high level IRS job. ::) How many other people like her work for the IRS?
Lois Lerner Criticized GOP As 'Crazies,' 'Assholes' In Emails
AP | By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
Posted: 07/30/2014
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former IRS official at the heart of the agency's tea party controversy called conservative Republicans "crazies" and more in emails released Wednesday.
Lois Lerner headed the IRS division that handles applications for tax-exempt status. In a series of emails with a colleague in November 2012, Lerner made two disparaging remarks about members of the GOP, including one remark that was profane.
Rep. Dave Camp, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, released the emails Wednesday as part of his committee's investigation. The Michigan Republican says the emails show Lerner's "disgust with conservatives."
In one email, Lerner called members of the GOP crazies. In the other, she called them "assholes." The committee redacted the wording to "_holes" in the material it released publicly but a committee spokeswoman confirmed to the AP that the email said "assholes."
Congress and the Justice Department are investigating whether the IRS improperly scrutinized applications for tax-exempt status from conservative groups.
Camp sent copies of the emails to the Justice Department, saying they provide further proof that Lerner willfully targeted conservatives.
Lerner has since retired from the agency. Her lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lerner has emerged as a central figure in several congressional investigations into the IRS' handling of applications for tax-exempt status by tea party and other conservative groups. Twice Lerner refused to answer questions at congressional hearings, invoking her constitutional right against self-incrimination.
In June, the IRS told Congress that an untold number of Lerner's emails were lost when her computer hard drive crashed in 2011.
In the newly released emails, Lerner was apparently traveling in Great Britain when she uses her Blackberry to send a series of emails to a colleague at the IRS. Camp said Lerner was using her government email account.
Lerner tells her colleague that she overheard some women say America was bankrupt and "going down the tubes."
"Well, you should hear the whacko wing of the GOP," replied her colleague, whose name is blacked out. "The US is through; too many foreigners sucking the teat; time to hunker down, buy ammo and food, and prepare for the end. The right wing radio shows are scary to listen to."
Lerner replies: "Great. Maybe we are through if there are that many assholes."
Her colleague replies: "And I'm talking about the hosts of the shows. The callers are rabid."
Lerner: "So we don't need to worry about alien teRrorists. It's our own crazies that will take us down."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/30/lois-lerner-emails-_n_5634379.html
great point
it's not like any high ranking Republican (civil servant or politician) ever made a partisan or inflammatory remark (especially in private correspondence) about Democrats
-
Exactly the kind of person we want working in a high level IRS job. ::) How many other people like her work for the IRS?
Lois Lerner Criticized GOP As 'Crazies,' 'Assholes' In Emails
AP | By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
Posted: 07/30/2014
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former IRS official at the heart of the agency's tea party controversy called conservative Republicans "crazies" and more in emails released Wednesday.
Lois Lerner headed the IRS division that handles applications for tax-exempt status. In a series of emails with a colleague in November 2012, Lerner made two disparaging remarks about members of the GOP, including one remark that was profane.
Rep. Dave Camp, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, released the emails Wednesday as part of his committee's investigation. The Michigan Republican says the emails show Lerner's "disgust with conservatives."
In one email, Lerner called members of the GOP crazies. In the other, she called them "assholes." The committee redacted the wording to "_holes" in the material it released publicly but a committee spokeswoman confirmed to the AP that the email said "assholes."
Congress and the Justice Department are investigating whether the IRS improperly scrutinized applications for tax-exempt status from conservative groups.
Camp sent copies of the emails to the Justice Department, saying they provide further proof that Lerner willfully targeted conservatives.
Lerner has since retired from the agency. Her lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lerner has emerged as a central figure in several congressional investigations into the IRS' handling of applications for tax-exempt status by tea party and other conservative groups. Twice Lerner refused to answer questions at congressional hearings, invoking her constitutional right against self-incrimination.
In June, the IRS told Congress that an untold number of Lerner's emails were lost when her computer hard drive crashed in 2011.
In the newly released emails, Lerner was apparently traveling in Great Britain when she uses her Blackberry to send a series of emails to a colleague at the IRS. Camp said Lerner was using her government email account.
Lerner tells her colleague that she overheard some women say America was bankrupt and "going down the tubes."
"Well, you should hear the whacko wing of the GOP," replied her colleague, whose name is blacked out. "The US is through; too many foreigners sucking the teat; time to hunker down, buy ammo and food, and prepare for the end. The right wing radio shows are scary to listen to."
Lerner replies: "Great. Maybe we are through if there are that many assholes."
Her colleague replies: "And I'm talking about the hosts of the shows. The callers are rabid."
Lerner: "So we don't need to worry about alien teRrorists. It's our own crazies that will take us down."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/30/lois-lerner-emails-_n_5634379.html
how many more? A lot, I hope.
-
Now we may know why. After months of delay in responding to congressional inquiries, the IRS now claims that, for the period of January 2009 to April 2011, all e-mails between Lois Lerner — the IRS official at the center of the scandal — and anyone outside the IRS were wiped out by a “computer crash.”
Completely unacceptable.
Reminds me of the lack of anger from the other side of the aisle when Bush white house "lost" 22 MILLION emails.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_White_House_email_controversy
They were "found" in 2009, after bush left office, and won't be declassified for years lol.
Most would consider the White House email to be among the most important on EARTH lol. The minute an investigation comes, oops, they're all missing lol.
it was digusting when bush did it, and it's disgusting when obama does it.
-
how many more? A lot, I hope.
Yes, I'm sure you do.
-
great point
it's not like any high ranking Republican (civil servant or politician) ever made a partisan or inflammatory remark (especially in private correspondence) about Democrats
I didn't think IRS officials were allowed to practice partisan politics on the job? That's the problem. Not that Bush called a Dem an asshole 15 years ago.
Was the IRS acting as a campaign headquarters for Bush during his re-election campaign?
http://dailycaller.com/2014/07/10/irs-worker-suspended-for-using-official-capacity-to-campaign-for-obama/#! (http://dailycaller.com/2014/07/10/irs-worker-suspended-for-using-official-capacity-to-campaign-for-obama/#!)
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jul/10/irs-employee-suspended-pro-obama-activities/ (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jul/10/irs-employee-suspended-pro-obama-activities/)
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/apr/9/dallas-irs-office-plastered-pro-obama-stickers-scr/?page=all (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/apr/9/dallas-irs-office-plastered-pro-obama-stickers-scr/?page=all)
Doesn't this concern you at all?
-
Lois Lerner's Blackberry deliberately destroyed after start of congressional probe: IRS lawyer
By Doug McKelway
Published August 26, 2014
FoxNews.com
Lois Lerner’s Blackberry was intentionally destroyed after Congress had begun its probe into IRS targeting of conservative groups, a senior IRS lawyer acknowledged in a sworn declaration.
Thomas Kane, Deputy Assistant Chief Counsel for the IRS, wrote in the declaration, part of a lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch against the IRS, that the Blackberry was "removed or wiped clean of any sensitive or proprietary information and removed as scrap for disposal in June 2012."
That date - June 2012 - is significant because by that time, ex-IRS official Lerner had already been summoned before congressional staffers who interviewed her about reports of the IRS' targeting of conservative groups.
"We had already talked to her. Our personal staff and Oversight Committee staff had sat down with Ms. Lerner and confronted her about information we were getting from conservative groups in the state of Ohio and around the country," Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Fox News.
"If you intentionally destroy evidence, that is a crime. If you make a statement in court saying the evidence is not available and it is, that is also a crime," said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice.
The IRS did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
News of the Blackberry's destruction followed Monday’s statement by Judicial Watch that Justice Department attorneys said in a Friday phone call the federal government backs up all computer records to ensure continuity of government in event of a catastrophe, but retrieving the Lerner emails would simply be "too onerous."
An administration official told Fox News Monday night that Judicial Watch misinterpreted the Friday phone call. "There was no new back-up system described last week to Judicial Watch," he said. "Government lawyers who spoke to Judicial Watch simply referred to the same email retention policy that Commissioner (John) Koskinen had described in his Congressional testimony."
But Cleta Mitchell, an attorney who represents other conservative groups suing the IRS, cited a whistleblower who bolsters Judicial Watch's interpretation.
"I received information from a former Department of Homeland Security official who had security clearances. He just retired in April," Mitchell said. "He contacted me and he contacted Judicial Watch and some members of Congress and said there is backup material."
The dueling versions are not likely to sit well with District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan, who is presiding over Judicial Watch’s lawsuit against the IRS. "He gave the IRS not one, but two opportunities in court filings with him to tell him where they were," said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch. "There was no mention of this backup system to the court at that time."
According to Sidney Powell, author of "Licensed to Lie: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice," Sullivan is known to scold government lawyers who withhold evidence.
Powell said Sullivan appointed an independent counsel to investigate DOJ's prosecution of now deceased Republican Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska.Sullivan described the Stevens prosecution as "the worst case of misconduct he'd seen in 25 years."
Sullivan also said, "When government does not meet its obligations to turn over evidence, the system falters."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/08/26/lois-lerner-blackberry-deliberately-destroyed-after-start-congressional-probe/
-
Scandal: Talk of crashed and recycled hard drives, like that Benghazi video, was a distraction from the truth, which is that the missing emails detailing IRS perfidy exist on a system intended for government wide catastrophe.
It would make sense that such a system would exist in the event that, say, the Islamic State or some other terrorist entity managed a nuclear attack on Washington D.C.
In fact, such a system does exist and contains copies of not only Lois Lerner's missing IRS emails detailing the agency's illegal and unconstitutional activity, but also the entire inventory of government files and data — and the IRS knew it all this time.
We have documented how IRS Commissioner John Koskinen has repeatedly lied before Congress, changing his story multiple times. He consistently implied that the Lerner emails didn't exist or were lost when her hard drive and those of others crashed, and then were destroyed and recycled.
~snip~
The fact is that the IRS wouldn't be saying anything had not U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan gotten tired of IRS obfuscation in the face of Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act lawsuits. He ordered the IRS to give a believable explanation to his court under oath and penalty of perjury.
Sullivan, probably not amused by the snarky testimony of Koskinen before Congress, ordered the IRS to produce sworn declarations about the lost emails and what might have happened to them. The Clinton appointee sought a step-by-step explanation of the alleged hard-drive destruction, including how it was authorized and why. He should also look closely into the destruction of Lerner's BlackBerry, which was intentionally dismantled after Congress began investigating the IRS.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...
-
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/competing-views-irs-treatment-tea-party
Wow
-
Sen. Shaheen briefed on IRS targeting plot in 2012, memo shows
The Daily Caller
By Patrick Howley
Published November 04, 2014
Democratic New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen was looped in on a plan with Lois Lerner and President Barack Obama’s political appointee at the IRS to lead a program of harassment against conservative nonprofit groups during the 2012 election, according to letters exclusively obtained by The Daily Caller.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) did not want to publicly release 2012 correspondences exchanged between the IRS and Jeanne Shaheen at her personal Washington office: the agency delayed releasing the information to a major conservative super PAC multiple times, even threatening to see the super PAC in court, according to emails. (RELATED: Lois Lerner And Fellow IRS Official Announced Targeting At 2010 Conference Before Both Of Their Emails Went Missing)
But the letter in question comes out now, on the eve of Jeanne Shaheen’s bid for re-election to the United States Senate.
“The IRS is aware of the current public interest in this issue,” IRS chief counsel William J. Wilkins, a White House visitor described by insiders as “The President’s Man at the IRS,” personally wrote in a hand-stamped memo to “Senator Shaheen” on official Department of the Treasury letterhead on April 25, 2012.
The memo, obtained by TheDC, briefed the Democratic senator about a coordinated IRS-Treasury Department plot to target political activity by nonprofit 501(c)(4) groups. The plot was operating out of Lois Lerner’s Tax Exempt Government Entities Division. (RELATED: Liens Filed Against Dem Senator Jeanne Shaheen And Her Husband For Failure To Pay Creditors)
“These regulations have been in place since 1959,” Wilkins wrote. “We will consider proposed changes in this area as we work with Tax-Exempt and Government Entities and the Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Policy to identify tax issues that should be addressed” in designing new regulations and “guidance.”
“I hope this information is helpful,” Wilkins wrote. “I am sending a similar response to your colleagues. If you have questions, please contact me or have your staff contact Cathy Barre at (202) 622-3720.”
Shaheen got the inside info from the IRS, making it clear she was the point person in a group composed of six close Democratic colleagues including Chuck Schumer and Al Franken, who joined with Shaheen in quietly writing a letter to then-IRS commissioner Doug Shulman expressing their concern about new nonprofit groups engaging in political activity in 2012.
The Democratic senators’ publicly available March 9, 2012 letter asked the IRS to “immediately change the administrative framework for enforcement of the tax code as it applies to groups designated as ‘social welfare’ organizations” by introducing a new “bright line test” for how much a tax-exempt group can invest in political activity and by setting a new rule that at least 51 percent of a group’s activity must non-political. The senators called for more elaborate disclosures about finances and “undertakings” in groups’ form 990 submissions and sought new rules about how much donors could write off as business expenses. (RELATED: New Poll: Brown Leads Shaheen By A Point And A Half With One Week To Go)
A Freedom of Information Act request from a major conservative super PAC specifically identified “Jeanne Shaheen” as its Freedom of Information Act search term on the IRS scandal (and in Washington, folks, if YOUR NAME is the search term that the conservative super PAC uses in its bid to get public information, then you just might be involved in something).
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/11/03/bombshell-memo-jeanne-shaheen-conspired-with-white-house-insider-on-irs/
-
prison
-
GOP report: Top IRS official considered admitting targeting before 2012 election -- but didn’t
Published December 23, 2014
FoxNews.com
A top IRS official considered going public with the agency’s targeting of conservative groups at a hearing just months before the 2012 presidential election but ultimately decided against revealing the bombshell news, according to a new report from a GOP-led House committee.
Then-Deputy Commissioner Steven Miller wrote in an email in June 2012, about a month before a House Ways and Means subcommittee hearing, that he was weighing whether to testify to “put a stake” in the “c4” issue -- apparently a reference to allegations about politics playing a role in the agency’s denial of tax-exempt, 501(c)(4) status to conservative-leaning groups.
“I am beginning to wonder whether I should do [the hearing] and affirmatively use it to put a stake in politics and c4,” Miller told his chief of staff, Nikole Flax, in a June 2012 email obtained by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Miller ultimately testified at the July 25 hearing but never revealed his knowledge of the misconduct.
“Because he did not, he did a great disservice to the American taxpayers,” the House oversight committee report states.
The detail is one of many findings and allegations in the 226-page Republican-authored report, obtained by Fox News in advance of its release on Tuesday. The report highlights numerous examples of what House Republicans say is agency officials misleading congressional investigators and trying to slow their investigations.
Miller testified before Congress on at least six occasions as deputy commissioner and later as acting commissioner, from May 2012 until May 2013, when he was forced to resign.
During a final hearing, Miller apologized for the agency’s “poor service” but maintained the targeting was not motivated by politics.
The report states: “Though Miller was never asked as directly as [Commissioner Doug] Shulman about the targeting … Miller likewise never told Congress about the IRS misconduct. Miller’s multiple missed opportunities to tell Congress about the targeting continued the IRS’s pattern of failing to inform Congress.”
Now-retired IRS official Lois Lerner, in charge of the agency’s tax-exempt division during the 2010-2012 targeting, eventually revealed the scandal at an American Bar Association event in May 2013 -- roughly six months after President Obama won re-election and just days before an inspector general report on the allegations was scheduled for release.
“They used names like Tea Party or Patriots and they selected cases simply because the applications had those names in the title,” she said at the time. “That was wrong, that was absolutely incorrect, insensitive and inappropriate.”
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, on Monday accused the authors of the GOP-generated report of taking information out of context and selectively releasing information.
“It is revealing that the Republicans -- yet again -- are leaking cherry-picked excerpts of documents to support their preconceived political narrative without allowing committee members to even see their conclusions or vote on them first,” he said in a statement. “By leaking information to reporters on condition that they not disclose it to Democrats, Republicans are intentionally bypassing the normal congressional vetting process designed to distinguish fact from fiction.”
The report follows a recent congressional budget agreement for fiscal 2015 that cuts IRS funding to roughly fiscal 2000 levels, which agency officials argue will make oversight and other jobs even more difficult.
Other conclusions in the report, including several already made public, are that the Obama administration appears so far to have done an incomplete investigation and at times has been uncooperative.
“Only a month after Attorney General (Eric) Holder announced the administration’s investigation, then-FBI Director Robert Mueller was unable to answer basic questions about the status,” the report states. “Even as recently as July 2014, after the IRS informed Congress that it had destroyed two years of Lerner’s e-mails, the FBI continued its refusal to provide any information about its investigation.”
In addition, the Justice Department at one point was willing to pursue criminal prosecutions against the tax-exempt groups, based on information obtained by the IRS, according to documents obtained by House GOP investigators.
And the IRS failed to provide sufficient internal oversight, the report concludes.
“Congress created administrative oversight entities within the Executive Branch to ensure the IRS carries out its mission efficiently and responsibly,” the report states. “These entities -- specifically, the IRS Oversight Board and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration -- exist to ensure that IRS misconduct does not occur and, if it does, to identify and address it immediately. In the case of the IRS’s targeting of conservative tax-exempt applicants, these administrative oversight entities failed in their missions.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/12/23/gop-report-top-irs-official-considered-admitting-targeting-before-2012-election/
-
from the article above
“It is revealing that the Republicans -- yet again -- are leaking cherry-picked excerpts of documents to support their preconceived political narrative without allowing committee members to even see their conclusions or vote on them first,” he said in a statement. “By leaking information to reporters on condition that they not disclose it to Democrats, Republicans are intentionally bypassing the normal congressional vetting process designed to distinguish fact from fiction.”
-
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, on Monday accused the authors of the GOP-generated report of taking information out of context and selectively releasing information.
“It is revealing that the Republicans -- yet again -- are leaking cherry-picked excerpts of documents to support their preconceived political narrative without allowing committee members to even see their conclusions or vote on them first,” he said in a statement. “By leaking information to reporters on condition that they not disclose it to Democrats, Republicans are intentionally bypassing the normal congressional vetting process designed to distinguish fact from fiction.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/12/23/gop-report-top-irs-official-considered-admitting-targeting-before-2012-election/
Elijah Cummings is about as credible as Baghdad Bob.
-
Elijah Cummings is about as credible as Baghdad Bob.
:D
(http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com/images/07-minister.jpg)
-
Elijah Cummings is about as credible as Baghdad Bob.
great excuse for you to not have to address the content of his statement
if it were not true I assume you would be able to address it
-
great excuse for you to not have to address the content of his statement
if it were not true I assume you would be able to address it
:'(
-
great excuse for you to not have to address the content of his statement
if it were not true I assume you would be able to address it
I've never heard any truth come out of his mouth. He's one of Obama's little monkeys.
What does this admin have to do for you to admit that they're slime?
Will you be ok with a Republican admin targeting liberal orgs and auditing and harassing anyone who dares speak out against them or otherwise land on their shit list?
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/3/irs-targeted-dr-ben-carson-after-prayer-breakfast-/?page=all (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/3/irs-targeted-dr-ben-carson-after-prayer-breakfast-/?page=all)
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2013/05/19/businessman-frank-vandersloot-i-was-audited-twice-by-irs-once-by-dol-investigated-by-senate-staffer-after-giving-1-million-to-romney-super-pac/ (http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2013/05/19/businessman-frank-vandersloot-i-was-audited-twice-by-irs-once-by-dol-investigated-by-senate-staffer-after-giving-1-million-to-romney-super-pac/)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/23/murray-coal-obama_n_5870570.html (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/23/murray-coal-obama_n_5870570.html)
-
great excuse for you to not have to address the content of his statement
if it were not true I assume you would be able to address it
If he didn't have a credibility problem, why did you conveniently leave out WHO made the comment?
-
http://dailycaller.com/2014/04/20/is-there-an-ethics-investigation-in-rep-cummings-future-over-irs-emails-with-lerner-video/2/ (http://dailycaller.com/2014/04/20/is-there-an-ethics-investigation-in-rep-cummings-future-over-irs-emails-with-lerner-video/2/)
-
http://www.breitbart.com/video/2014/02/06/true-the-votes-engelbrecht-files-formal-ethics-complaint-against-rep-elijah-cummings/ (http://www.breitbart.com/video/2014/02/06/true-the-votes-engelbrecht-files-formal-ethics-complaint-against-rep-elijah-cummings/)
http://dailysignal.com/2012/10/11/rep-elijah-cummings-d-md-threatens-citizens-group-over-election-integrity/ (http://dailysignal.com/2012/10/11/rep-elijah-cummings-d-md-threatens-citizens-group-over-election-integrity/)
-
If he didn't have a credibility problem, why did you conveniently leave out WHO made the comment?
it came from Bums post which I clearly pointed out
it was not exactly hidden
now why dont you try to refute what he said?
-
it came from Bums post which I clearly pointed out
it was not exactly hidden
now why dont you try to refute what he said?
You only quoted what was said and nothing else. Normally people also reference who or where the quote came from, unless the source is dubious.
As for refuting what he said, I'm not sure what you're expecting me to post or what would convince you that he's a lying sack of shit if nothing else has. Do you really expect me to type out the entire transcript of the investigation or something?
The evidence is overwhelmingly against the IRS, and even Ray Charles could have seen the connection to the White House and also Cummings' lack of credibility. His job as Obama's little monkey is to try to discredit the whole thing and spin it all in any way possible, much like Earnest and Carney. But at least they're all getting paid to spin for him.
-
You only quoted what was said and nothing else. Normally people also reference who or where the quote came from, unless the source is dubious.
As for refuting what he said, I'm not sure what you're expecting me to post or what would convince you that he's a lying sack of shit if nothing else has. Do you really expect me to type out the entire transcript of the investigation or something?
The evidence is overwhelmingly against the IRS, and even Ray Charles could have seen the connection to the White House and also Cummings' lack of credibility. His job as Obama's little monkey is to try to discredit the whole thing and spin it all in any way possible, much like Earnest and Carney. But at least they're all getting paid to spin for him.
it's very simple
Are Republicans leaking information to reporters on condition that they not disclose it to Democrats and intentionally bypassing the normal congressional vetting process designed to distinguish fact from fiction ?
btw - if there were any evidence (overwhelming or not) of of crime then why haven't the Repubs done something/anything besides leak unsubstantiated rumors.
Also, why did no teabag groups get denied 501c4 status while Democratic groups were actually denied that status
that is pretty scandalous don't you think?
Shouldn't the Repubs be doing something about that with all that overwhelming evidence you mentioned?
-
Democrat groups don't pay taxes - they take them
it's very simple
Are Republicans leaking information to reporters on condition that they not disclose it to Democrats and intentionally bypassing the normal congressional vetting process designed to distinguish fact from fiction ?
btw - if there were any evidence (overwhelming or not) of of crime then why haven't the Repubs done something/anything besides leak unsubstantiated rumors.
Also, why did no teabag groups get denied 501c4 status while Democratic groups were actually denied that status
that is pretty scandalous don't you think?
Shouldn't the Repubs be doing something about that with all that overwhelming evidence you mentioned?
-
The burden of proof of "leaks" is on those of you who make the claims of those leaks. I do recall hearing that the DOJ was leaking info from the Ferguson grand jury a few weeks back.
Many Right-leaning groups were denied and harassed. Few, if any on the left were. Where are you getting this? Are you just making it up as you go along? Are you paid to post this shit here? Or is it a black liberal thing?
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewsubcategory.asp?id=1935 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewsubcategory.asp?id=1935)
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/irs-scandal/ (http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/irs-scandal/)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2014/12/17/20-facts-about-irs-targeting-emails-and-the-white-house/ (http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2014/12/17/20-facts-about-irs-targeting-emails-and-the-white-house/)
it's very simple
Are Republicans leaking information to reporters on condition that they not disclose it to Democrats and intentionally bypassing the normal congressional vetting process designed to distinguish fact from fiction ?
btw - if there were any evidence (overwhelming or not) of of crime then why haven't the Repubs done something/anything besides leak unsubstantiated rumors.
Also, why did no teabag groups get denied 501c4 status while Democratic groups were actually denied that status
that is pretty scandalous don't you think?
Shouldn't the Repubs be doing something about that with all that overwhelming evidence you mentioned?
-
She is lucky.
Feds won't pursue contempt charges against Lerner for not testifying before House
Published April 01, 2015
FoxNews.com
The Justice Department has declined to pursue contempt of Congress charges against Lois Lerner for refusing to testify about her role at the IRS in the targeting of conservative groups.
The department announced the decision in a letter Tuesday to House Speaker John Boehner, whose Republican-controlled chamber made the request to prosecute, after holding Lerner in contempt for refusing to at committee hearings.
"Once again, the Obama administration has tried to sweep IRS targeting of taxpayers for their political beliefs under the rug,” Boehner spokesman Michael Steel told FoxNews.com.
Lerner asserted her Fifth Amendment privilege, which allows people to not testify against themselves, during a May 2013 hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and then again at a March 2014 hearing.
However, House Republicans argued Lerner waived the privilege with an opening statement she made before the committee in the May 2013 appearance. All the chamber’s Republican members and six Democrats officially voted in May 2014 to hold Lerner in contempt.
Ron Machen Jr., the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said in the seven-page letter that federal prosecutors concluded Lerner did not waive her privilege because she made “only general claims of innocence” during the opening statement.
“Thus, the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution would provide Ms. Lerner with an absolute defense should be prosecuted … for her refusal to testify,” wrote Machen, who was appointed to the U.S. attorney post by President Obama and left for private practice Wednesday, one day after sending the letter.
He also said he will not refer the case to a grand jury or take any other action to prosecute.
Lerner ran the IRS’s exempt organizations unit when Tea Party and other nonprofit groups with conservative names applying for tax-exempt status were targeted for additional auditing from April 2010 to April 2012.
She was placed on administrative leave in May 2013 and retired four months later.
“I have not done anything wrong,” Lerner said in her 2013 opening statement. “I have not broken any laws. I have not violated any IRS rules or regulations. And I have not provided false information to this or any other congressional committee.”
The IRS scandal broke in May 2013 when Lerner said at an American Bar Association gathering and during a follow-up conference call with reporters there was a “very big uptick” in nonprofit applications and that the vetting process was limited to the agency’s Cincinnati office.
However, the extent to which the Obama administration knew about the targeting, beyond Lerner’s unit in Washington, remains unclear in part because, she says, her computer crashed and emails were lost.
Lerner attorney William Taylor said he and is client are “gratified but not surprised” by the decision by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“Anyone who takes a serious and impartial look at this issue would conclude that Ms. Lerner did not waive her Fifth Amendment rights.” he said. “It is unfortunate that the majority party in the House put politics before a citizen’s constitutional rights.”
Steel also said the White House still has the opportunity to “do the right thing and appoint a special counsel to examine the IRS’ actions."
Ohio GOP Rep. Jim Jordan said federal prosecutors made the “wrong” decision.
“As one of his final acts as U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., Ronald Machen used his power as a political weapon to undermine the rule of law,” Jordan said. “Machen was legally bound to convene a grand jury, but instead he ignored his obligation and unilaterally decided to ignore the will of the House. … This is wrong, and a great example of why so many Americans distrust their government.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/04/01/feds-wont-pursue-contempt-charges-against-lerner-for-not-testifying-before-house/
-
IRS reveals existence of another Lois Lerner email account
Published August 25, 2015
FoxNews.com
The IRS admitted to a federal court there was a second personal email account that Lois Lerner, the official at the heart of the Tea Party targeting scandal, used to conduct agency business.
The email account apparently was set up under the name, "Toby Miles."
The admission, first reported by The Washington Times, was made Monday in an open-records lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch, a conservative group suing to see Lerner’s emails sent during the targeting of conservative groups filing for tax-exempt status.
IRS lawyer Geoffrey Klimas told the court that as it was putting together a set of documents to hand over to Judicial Watch, attorneys discovered another email account, in addition to her official account and a separate personal email already known to the agency.
“In the process of preparing this status report and for the August 24, 2015, release of Lerner communications, the undersigned attorneys learned that, in addition to emails to or from an email account denominated ‘Lois G. Lerner‘ or ‘Lois Home,’ some emails responsive to Judicial Watch’s request may have been sent to or received from a personal email account denominated ‘Toby Miles,’” Klimas told U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan.
It was not immediately clear whom "Toby Miles" refers to; Lerner's husband is Michael Miles and reportedly may have been linked to the account. The IRS, though, concluded it was a personal account used by Lerner.
Klimas said the IRS is reviewing previous releases to Judicial Watch in light of the new account, and will provide an update by the end of August as to whether any documents need to be re-released with different redactions or if any additional searches need to be done.
A House Ways and Means Committee criminal referral in 2014 mentioned the Toby Miles email address, identified as tobomatic@msn.com, as the address was included on an email that also had Lerner’s official account on the chain of recipients.
At that time, the committee linked the Toby Miles address to Lerner’s husband, Michael Miles, but said, “The source of the name ‘Toby‘ is not known,” The Times reported.
“This is the latest in a parade of obstruction from the IRS and the Department of Justice on these issues,” Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, told FoxNews.com, calling the idea that sensitive government information was on a non-government account "disturbing."
Fitton said that the DOJ and the IRS have apparently known about the Toby Miles account for some time, and cited this as more proof that a special counsel should be appointed to oversee the investigation into the scandal.
"This is just another example from the Obama administration of the -- to use an old Nixonian phrase -- modified limited hangout," Fitton said, adding, "the Obama IRS scandal is not over."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/08/25/irs-reveals-existence-another-lois-lerner-email-account/?intcmp=hpbt1
-
nothing will happen because the US Attorney won't prosecute because Lerner did not commit contempt and legally invoked the 5th amendment
but, Repubs will accomplish their goal of having another phony scandal to talk about on the campaign trail
DOJ closes IRS investigation with no charges
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/23/politics/lois-lerner-no-charges-doj-tea-party/index.html
Washington (CNN)The Justice Department notified members of Congress on Friday that it is closing its two-year investigation into whether the IRS improperly targeted the tea party and other conservative groups.
There will be no charges against former IRS official Lois Lerner or anyone else at the agency, the Justice Department said in a letter.
The probe found "substantial evidence of mismanagement, poor judgment and institutional inertia leading to the belief by many tax-exempt applicants that the IRS targeted them based on their political viewpoints. But poor management is not a crime," Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik said in the letter.
-
good.
move on.
nothing to see here.
-
DOJ closes IRS investigation with no charges
incompetence was the common excuse during the bush admin when they did shady shit. OOPS we deleted 4 million emails, sorry bro. Accident. ;)
Soooooo are we just going to blame incompetence now too? Cause that's the precendent. Fckers truly believed no emails of white house emails were kept, so hey, why not just cite ignorance on this obviously intentional irs shit?
-
House GOP to File Criminal Charges Against Lois Lerner in IRS Scandal
GP ^
Posted on 04/13/2017 11:08:56 AM PDT by Enlightened1
Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) went on with Stewart Varney on Thursday morning to discuss recent developments on Capitol Hill.
Roskam told Stewart House Republicans are planning of filing criminal charges against Lois Lerner.
Rep. Roskam: The Obama Administration was very lenient with the crimes that Lois Lerner committed. And those are strong words that I’m using but the House Ways and Means Committee voted out a criminal referral to the Department of Justice which was completely dismissed by the Department of Justice… We think that Lois Lerner did two things wrong. Number one, she denied people due process and equal protection of the law based on their political philosophy. We’re convinced that there is overwhelming evidence to suggest that that’s true. And that’s a felony. Secondly, we suspect that she lied to the Inspecter General of the Treasury Department.
Via Varney and Co.:
(Excerpt) Read more at thegatewaypundit.com ...
-
House GOP to File Criminal Charges Against Lois Lerner in IRS Scandal
GP ^
Posted on 04/13/2017 11:08:56 AM PDT by Enlightened1
Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) went on with Stewart Varney on Thursday morning to discuss recent developments on Capitol Hill.
Roskam told Stewart House Republicans are planning of filing criminal charges against Lois Lerner.
Rep. Roskam: The Obama Administration was very lenient with the crimes that Lois Lerner committed. And those are strong words that I’m using but the House Ways and Means Committee voted out a criminal referral to the Department of Justice which was completely dismissed by the Department of Justice… We think that Lois Lerner did two things wrong. Number one, she denied people due process and equal protection of the law based on their political philosophy. We’re convinced that there is overwhelming evidence to suggest that that’s true. And that’s a felony. Secondly, we suspect that she lied to the Inspecter General of the Treasury Department.
Via Varney and Co.:
(Excerpt) Read more at thegatewaypundit.com ...
:o
-
DOJ closes IRS investigation with no charges
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/23/politics/lois-lerner-no-charges-doj-tea-party/index.html
Washington (CNN)The Justice Department notified members of Congress on Friday that it is closing its two-year investigation into whether the IRS improperly targeted the tea party and other conservative groups.
There will be no charges against former IRS official Lois Lerner or anyone else at the agency, the Justice Department said in a letter.
The probe found "substantial evidence of mismanagement, poor judgment and institutional inertia leading to the belief by many tax-exempt applicants that the IRS targeted them based on their political viewpoints. But poor management is not a crime," Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik said in the letter.
Derp
-
House GOP to File Criminal Charges Against Lois Lerner in IRS Scandal
GP ^
Posted on 04/13/2017 11:08:56 AM PDT by Enlightened1
Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) went on with Stewart Varney on Thursday morning to discuss recent developments on Capitol Hill.
Roskam told Stewart House Republicans are planning of filing criminal charges against Lois Lerner.
Rep. Roskam: The Obama Administration was very lenient with the crimes that Lois Lerner committed. And those are strong words that I’m using but the House Ways and Means Committee voted out a criminal referral to the Department of Justice which was completely dismissed by the Department of Justice… We think that Lois Lerner did two things wrong. Number one, she denied people due process and equal protection of the law based on their political philosophy. We’re convinced that there is overwhelming evidence to suggest that that’s true. And that’s a felony. Secondly, we suspect that she lied to the Inspecter General of the Treasury Department.
Via Varney and Co.:
(Excerpt) Read more at thegatewaypundit.com ...
When did Varney say this charges would be filed
soon I assume
tomorrow?
next week?
-
When did Varney say this charges would be filed
soon I assume
tomorrow?
next week?
Doesn't matter. Like Lurker and Benghazi you thought this was a done deal. Wrong as usual
-
Doesn't matter. Like Lurker and Benghazi you thought this was a done deal. Wrong as usual
so we'll be seeing those charges filed soon?
end of month?
or doesn't matter if it never happens?
-
Are these charges going to be filed today?
-
Has Congress filed charges yet ?
-
Well it's been almost ao month since we were told the House was planning on filing charges against Lerner
What's taking so long?