Posted on 03/11/2014 10:18:46 AM PDT by smoothsailing
POLITICS: PennAve
A GOP-led House panel Tuesday released an extensive report that attempts to show former top Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner lied to Congress about her involvement in the targeting of conservative groups seeking tax exempt status.
Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said the 141-page report “offers detailed evidence about steps she took to crack down on organizations that exercised their Constitutional rights to free political speech.”
The report comes as Issa weighs whether the committee should vote on holding Lerner in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify before the panel about the targeting activity.
Republicans claim she waived her Fifth Amendment rights by reading a statement proclaiming her innocence at a hearing last year.
The report does not include any of the Lerner emails the IRS recently promised to turn over to the House Ways and Means Committee, but Oversight apparently had enough material to determine, according to Issa, that Lerner “misled Congress about targeting and her own conduct.”
The top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., has accused Issa of turning Lerner into a political target. He is expected to release a statement shortly in response to the report.
Among the findings in the report:
— Lerner, in emails to other IRS officials, wrote about ways to highlight the agency's scrutiny of Tea Party applicants, despite secrecy laws, by provoking groups to challenge IRS rulings in a court case.
— She called for a Washington, D.C.-based, “multi-tier review” for Tea Party groups applying for tax exempt status. “A D.C. IRS employee said this level of scrutiny had no precedent,” the report notes.
— Lerner references “the fabulously rich and hugely influential” Koch brothers, who are GOP donors, in asserting that the agency needed to cautiously conduct a “project” scrutinizing groups seeking 501(c)(4) tax exempt status. The code references the tax exempt category conservative and Tea Party groups were requesting from the IRS.
— Lerner broke IRS rules by using her personal email account to handle protected taxpayer information.
— Lerner expressed concern that the Supreme Court ruling leading to the increase of 501(c)(4) tax-exempt groups would hurt Democratic senators seeking re-election in 2012. The IRS was expected to fix the problem, Lerner wrote.
“The Supreme Court dealt a huge blow, overturning a 100-year old precedent that basically corporations couldn't give directly to political campaigns,” Lerner wrote. “And everyone is up in arms because they don't like it. The Federal Election Commission can't do anything about it. They want the IRS to fix the problem.”
Well , D’oh !!!!
“misled”, eh?
My mother used to call it LYING.
No s$%^.
Watcha gonna do, Johnny Boy?
And it better not be crying.
Imprison the evil democrat witch lois lerner
and her boss barack obama for these crimes against American citizens. the buck stops with Obama.
What did Obama know and when did he know it.
when cruz or Palin win the president then their justice dept can investigate these criminals. Obama’s justice dept are the criminals too for not investigating this oppression of Americans by Obama ‘s IRS and lois lerner
Imprison the evil democrat witch lois lerner
and imprison her boss barack obama for these crimes against American citizens. the buck stops with Obama.
What did Obama know and when did he know it.
when cruz or Palin win the presidency then their justice dept can investigate these criminals. Obama’s justice dept are the criminals too for not investigating this oppression of Americans by Obama ‘s IRS and lois lerner
Ping.
What in the hell has Issa so frightened of charging Lerner with contempt? This isn’t difficult here... either charge her forthwith or offer her an immunity deal that catches a bigger fish.
offer her an immunity deal that catches a bigger fish.
that bigger fish is Obama lois lerner’s boss. the buck stops with this socialist cretin
“Misled”, “misspoke” - how about flat-out lied???
Immunity for more lies? Why would anyone believe anything she says? Hold her in contempt and put her in jail.
I can tell from the above replies that I’m not the only one here who’s not surprised.
I’ll not be the only one who’s not surprised that no charges will be made, no arrests will be made, nobody will be punished for this execrable breach of our precious liberties.
— Lerner expressed concern that the Supreme Court ruling leading to the increase of 501(c)(4) tax-exempt groups would hurt Democratic senators seeking re-election in 2012. The IRS was expected to fix the problem, Lerner wrote.
Lois Lerner's acting like police state bitch on speed...
Did Lerner attempt to get a SWAT team for the IRS to use against conservative citizens? Or make inquiries into having "Homeland' snipers point guns at citizens? She's a thug...
The Wire reference....
Wake me up when Lerner is in jail.
Ranking Committee Democrat Elijah Cummings criticized the Republican report in a statement on Tuesday, saying:
Better yet: Threaten her with prosecution and offer her immunity if she turns over everything. This scandal is much bigger than her and we need a full accounting.
The Ways and Means committee has deeper access than worthelss Issa, and they’re on this now too. I bet they have insiders who are telling them where to look to build a case.
How much proof does it take to prove a smidgen?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.