Posted on 05/14/2013 9:15:57 PM PDT by Brad from Tennessee
Federal authorities have opened a criminal investigation of whether Internal Revenue Service employees broke the law when they targeted conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status — the latest setback for an agency that is the subject of withering bipartisan criticism and multiple congressional inquiries.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said Tuesday that the Justice Department and the FBI began the probe after the IRS acknowledged that it selected conservative groups with the words “tea party” and “patriot” in their names for special reviews.
“We are examining the facts to see if there were criminal violations,” Holder said at a news conference.
Also Tuesday, a widely anticipated report by the IRS’s watchdog described the agency’s tax-exempt unit — where the screening of conservative groups occurred — as a bureaucratic mess, with some employees ignorant about tax laws, defiant of their supervisors and blind to the appearance of impropriety.
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The report did not find evidence that the actions were motivated by partisan interests. IRS officials told investigators they did not consult anyone outside the agency about the screening. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Bump
“The report did not find evidence that the actions were motivated by partisan interests. IRS officials told investigators they did not consult anyone outside the agency about the screening.”
Summed up in two words. Bravo Sierra!
“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”
“not find evidence that the actions were motivated by partisan interests.”
Right, it was just a coincidence. Tell me another. First order of business should be to find out who sent those tax exempt applications to the outside group...that alone is a felony disclosure. Check to see which party they donated money to. I bet my last dollar, they donated to dems or worked directly for people who did.
Lois learner the IRS exempt person in charge is up to her eye balls here too....she was the one who poo pooed this from the get go.
There used to be an Inspection Service in the IRS, it was moved under the treasury IG some years ago. That is the group which should be doing this criminal probe.
“Also Tuesday, a widely anticipated report by the IRS’s watchdog described the agency’s tax-exempt unit — where the screening of conservative groups occurred — as a bureaucratic mess, with some employees ignorant about tax laws, defiant of their supervisors and blind to the appearance of impropriety. “
Like we needed an investigation to find that out.
What a laugh.
The Perps investigate themselves.
Predetermined verdict.
If the screening criteria weren’t motivated by politics, then some Liberal and Progressive groups would have been caught up in this as well. Were they?
The IRS collected the data—more than required by law—and gave the information illegally to leftist groups. The IG report did not cover that aspect of the IRS activities.
DNC on Jim Crow Laws; “Inappropriate criteria used...”
“The Perps investigate themselves.”
Yes, and at this point they report on it to us as well via their media network. People in the media are lower than personal-injury attorneys, and are slipping lower than child molesters (and maybe even public school teachers).
That was done by those "low level" bureaucrats. You know, the ones who establish policy for the entire Internal Revenue Service.
An infinitely bigger issue is the illegal disclosure of the information the IRS coerced from the would-be nonprofits to their ideological and political rivals, and the misuse of that information by those outside organizations to smear the applicant organizations and their donors, large and small. Even though I'm not a lawyer, I can see how that must have broken many - perhaps dozens - of laws.
The Federal Government has hundreds of pages of regulations about the handling of "PII" or "Personally Identifiable Information," and anyone who handles such information is briefed in detail about the great care with which its confidentiality must be protected.
That sort of briefing is given to anyone who works in any capacity in the government. I would imagine that the rules, and the briefings, and the sign-offs, and the CAC certificates, and the qualifications required within the IRS would be much more strict. It is inconceivable that anyone working there - except perhaps custodial people, electricians and plumbers and the like - would not be aware of these laws and regulations.
The only way they would break these laws - and surely they did break them - would be at the express instruction of their superiors.
That's the real problem, as anyone with an above-IQ temperature surely knows. Including the "inspector general."
I wonder if the "inspector general" wears one of those spiffy Joyclyn-Elders-type uniforms at work.
Bush simply used an inappropriate criteria for defining WMDS.
Give me a million budget, six decent corruption investigators and a diligent special US attorney and I’d have this cleared up in six months or less.
Who ever came up with the posted result could not find their ass with both hands, assuming they were looking for it.
If the screening criteria weren't politically motivated, then it follows that at least some Liberal and Progressive groups would have been caught up in this mess as well. Were they?
Of course. That's why I said that everyone knows the score (everyone with a brain that is). That does not mean that the MSM will admit it.
Another thing they teach you in the government is this: if classified information becomes public, it is still classified. The MSM is the same way about information damaging to leftists like Obama. Even though everyone knows the score, the MSM won't admit it, and will go on like nothing happened. People on the right who make an issue of the facts will be treated as kooks and extremists; their credibility will be impugned even though they are speaking the truth. The MSM has used this tactic dozens of times during the Obama administration, and they used it during the Clinton administration too.
The reason they are doing this is because their aim is to keep the low-information voters in line. At this point, conservatives of the sort that were mobilized by Richard Viguerie to help elect Ronald Reagan are outnumbered by the LIVs, and immigration law is being changed to allow huge numbers of new LIVs into the country.
This is how the left has responded to the "Reagan Revolution." They have waged demographic warfare on the Conservative movement, and they are in the process of winning that war. With the help of many Republicans in congress, I'm bound to say.
You’re overthinking this, FRiend. I just posted on another thread that I have a Liberal colleague who on Monday asked me if I had heard of the IRS scandal. He said, and I quote, “That’s f**ked up, man. That’s really f**ked up!”
Abusing the IRS in this fashion cuts across ideological lines in ways that Benghazi never will.
I doubt it. A large percentage of the supporters of King Putt don't pay any Federal taxes. Hell, several members of Obama's own cabinet cheated on their income taxes and still got confirmed. Why should they care about lawlessness at the Democrat IRS?
Still, I hope I'm wrong and you're right.
I recall Maine Governor Paul LePage getting in hot water for calling the IRS the “new Gestapo” last Summer.
At the time he was raked over the coals by the press, but now he seems visionary.
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