AP Exclusive: Watchdog report says senior IRS officials knew tea party groups targeted in 2011

Associated Press ^ | 05/11/2013 (Updated: Saturday, May 11, 3:38 PM) | AP/Washington Post

[Rusty0604]

WASHINGTON — Senior Internal Revenue Service officials knew agents were targeting tea party groups as early as 2011, according to a draft of an inspector general’s report obtained by The Associated Press that seemingly contradicts public statements by the IRS commissioner.

The IRS apologized Friday for what it acknowledged was “inappropriate” targeting of conservative political groups during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status. The agency blamed low-level employees, saying no high-level officials were aware.

But on June 29, 2011, Lois G. Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt organizations, learned at a meeting that groups were being targeted, according to the watchdog’s report. At the meeting, she was told that groups with “Tea Party,” ‘’Patriot” or “9/12 Project” in their names were being flagged for additional and often burdensome scrutiny, the report says.

The 9-12 Project is a group started by conservative TV personality Glenn Beck.

Lerner instructed agents to change the criteria for flagging groups “immediately,” the report says.

The Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration is expected to release the results of a nearly yearlong investigation in the coming week. The AP obtained part of the draft report, which has been shared with congressional aides.

Excerpt, read more at Washington Post/AP

[kempster]

I say close them down. Perfect time to start over with the flat tax. The system is corrupt.

[kabar]

This is a bigger scandal than Benghazi.

[Gene Eric]

>> This is the most crooked and corrupt regime ever to rise to power in this country.

No question, and that includes the scumbags in the Democrat party advancing Socialism.

[GOPJ]

...they put Evangelicals, Baptists, Orthodox Jews, Catholics, the Tea Party, and other patriotic organizations on widely distributed lists of potential terrorist organizations...

Seems Obama used the force of the federal government to go after American citizens who happened to be conservative... I suspect the rest of the dems knew about it...Looks like they're filth. Really. None of this is funny.

[Cheerio]

There are so many scandals breaking that there is no way Congress can even get around to them all - too busy trying to take our guns and ammo away, pander to the illegal alien community for votes, and shoveling money into green energy bankruptcies.

[PghBaldy]

Strange the IRS wasn’t accused of going after people of any stripe for partisan purposes during the Bush years, yet Carney has to mention this factoid. It is therefore meaningless.

[redgolum]

We’ll see where this goes.

[garbanzo]

Nothing to see here just some CREEPs at the IRS running rogue...who was the highest ranking official in the executive branch to know about this and when did this person know it? Any plumbing issues at the White House that we know of?

[Vortex]

And the Tsarnev brothers knew there were bombs in their backpacks.

[Luke21]

There’s no outrage. They are reporting it like they would the weather report. It won’t be repeated round the clock. By next week Asspress will be groveling before their hero again.

[cookcounty]

Lerner says it wasn’t intentional???

Some low-level lunch mates went to a dictionary to find “key words for IRS audits” and low and behold, best beloved, the dictionary just plopped right open to the words “patriot” and “Tea Party”

Now THAT lady can spin a yarn!!

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

My questions are, like those re Benghazi, who ordered the investigations (and it wasn’t some low level shit head; where they asked to do it by the White House or a Democrat politician or official; did Lerner punish anyone for this illegal activity; and why wasn’t this made public earlier (it would have saved them a lot of embarrassment)?

[Madame Dufarge]

This goes a long way toward explaining the spate of articles from the left smugly proclaiming the Tea Party's diminishing influence, right around the time the IRS started targeting them. Coincidence, I'm sure.

Apparently, this latest revelation about their intimidation campaign wasn't important enough for the Washington Post to include in the News section, but was relegated to the Business section.

[Drawn7979]

nah i don't buy this story.

[TribalPrincess2U]

Let’s hope the leftist news media wake up to the fact that it could happen to them. The IRS intimidation won’t have any favorites in the future.

We’re all IRS hostages.

[uncommonsense]

"whatever penalty the administration (low level) will pay, it will all be worthwhile because they got what they wanted. The names and addresses of all donors and the names and addresses of volunteers and staff and close family members was their end game."

Yep, remember this illegal tactic by Linda Douglass in the White Hut with their health care propaganda push:

Facts Are Stubborn Things (send us your private emails with contacts criticizing ObamaCare)

"There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov."

[GeorgeWashingtonsGhost]

Looks like muzzie 0bama and his IRS was going after pro-Israel groups too.

[Texas4ever]

Can you even imagine if....they targeted homosexuals, gays, lesbian, transgender.....liberals?

OMG this would be of epic proportions and people would be in the streets.

[Shady]

I have said since the beginning of this psychosis that the lies and deceit cannot be hidden forever, and it will collapse...I pray that we have a lifeboat and can survive when the end does come...

[lepton]

It’s that time of year...after the elections, and after initial policy stands have been made.