Posted on 04/16/2014 9:27:11 AM PDT by smoothsailing
APRIL 16, 2014
May 9, 2013, email reveals IRS plans to meet with Department of Justice over whether to prosecute groups that lied about plans for political activity
(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch today released a new batch of internal IRS documents revealing that former IRS official Lois Lerner communicated with the Department of Justice (DOJ) about whether it was possible to criminally prosecute certain tax-exempt entities. The documents were obtained as a result of an October 2013 Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) after the agency refused to respond to four FOIA requests dating back to May 2013.
The newly released IRS documents contain an email exchange between Lerner and Nikole C. Flax, then-Chief of Staff to then-Acting IRS Commissioner Steven T. Miller discussing plans to work with the DOJ to prosecute nonprofit groups that lied (Lerners quotation marks) about political activities. The exchange includes the following:
I got a call today from Richard Pilger Director Elections Crimes Branch at DOJ … He wanted to know who at IRS the DOJ folk s [sic] could talk to about Sen. Whitehouse idea at the hearing that DOJ could piece together false statement cases about applicants who “lied” on their 1024s –saying they weren’t planning on doing political activity, and then turning around and making large visible political expenditures. DOJ is feeling like it needs to respond, but want to talk to the right folks at IRS to see whether there are impediments from our side and what, if any damage this might do to IRS programs.
I told him that sounded like we might need several folks from IRS
I think we should do it also need to include CI [Criminal Investigation Division], which we can help coordinate. Also, we need to reach out to FEC. Does it make sense to consider including them in this or keep it separate?
Lerner then handed off scheduling the issue to Senior Technical Adviser, Attorney Nancy Marks, who was then supposed to set up the meeting with the DOJ. Lerner also decided that it would be DOJs decision as to whether representatives from the Federal Election Commission would attend.
Democratic Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse had held a hearing on April 9during which, in questioning the witnesses from DOJ and IRS, Whitehouse asked why they have not prosecuted 501(c)(4) groups that have seemingly made false statements about their political activities. Lerner described the impetus for this hearing in a March 27, 2013, email to top IRS staff:
As I mentioned yesterday — there are several groups of folks from the FEC world that are pushing tax fraud prosecution for c4s who report they are not conducting political activity when they are (or these folks think they are). One is my ex-boss Larry Noble (former General Counsel at the FEC), who is now president of Americans for Campaign Reform. This is their latest push to shut these down. One IRS prosecution would make an impact and they wouldn’t feel so comfortable doing the stuff.
So, don’t be fooled about how this is being articulated it is ALL about 501(c)(4) orgs and political activity
But in an email sent a few minutes earlier, Lerner acknowledged prosecutions would evidently be at odds with the law:
Whether there was a false statement or fraud regarding an [sic] description of an alleged political expenditure that doesn’t say vote for or vote against is not realistic under current law. Everyone is looking for a magic bullet or scapegoat — there isn’t one. The law in this area is just hard.
The documents also include email exchanges showing that before Lerners May 10, 2013, speech to the American Bar Association blaming low-level employees in Cincinnati for targeting tax-exempt organizations, the IRS Exempt Organizations division was scrambling to defuse the emerging targeting scandal:
The new documents obtained by Judicial Watch also include emails exchanged after Lerners May 10 ABA speech:
The Judicial Watch FOIA requests came on the heels of an explosive May 14, 2013, Treasury Inspector General report revealing that the IRS had singled out groups with conservative-sounding terms such as patriot and Tea Party in their titles when applying for tax-exempt status. The IG probe determined that Early in Calendar Year 2010, the IRS began using inappropriate criteria to identify organizations applying for tax-exempt status to (e.g., lists of past and future donors). According to the report, the illegal IRS reviews continued for more than 18 months and delayed processing of targeted groups applications preparing for the 2012 presidential election.
Lerner, who headed the IRS division that handles applications for tax-exempt status, refused to testify at a May 2013 hearing before Rep. Darrell Issas (R-CA) House Oversight Committee, demanding immunity concerning her role in the targeting scandal. Lerner retired from the IRS with full benefits on September 23 after an internal investigation found she was guilty of neglect of duties and was going to call for her ouster, according to news reports. On April 9, 2014, the Ways and Means Committee referred Lois Lerner to the DOJ for criminal prosecution. On April 10, 2014, the House Oversight Committee voted to hold Lerner in contempt of Congress.
These new emails show that the day before she broke the news of the IRS scandal, Lois Lerner was talking to a top Obama Justice Department official about whether the DOJ could prosecute the very same organizations that the IRS had already improperly targeted, said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. The IRS emails show Eric Holders Department of Justice is now implicated and conflicted in the IRS scandal. No wonder we had to sue in federal court to get these documents.
A woman who needs an INDICTMENT real bad!
The Susan McDougal route?
Or the Vince Foster route?
The TRUTH will win!
Lois really needs to save her own hide and turn states evidence. /s
PERFECT! Thanks!
Even a white collar federal prison is too lenient for Lerner.
Nixon was Impeached for less.
Pure lawlessness
This explains they the IRS wanted an absurd amount of info from the groups; it is also now : ‘ IRS Conspired withe the Obama Justice Department to deny conservative groups their Civil rights.’
Get the word out
Tough call. Take the slight risk jail time at the hands of the toothless republicans, or certain death at the hands of the likes of obama, VayJay and Holder?
The DOJ is obviously involved in the illegal activity, they can’t be trusted to investigate themselves.
Time for a special prosecutor to be appointed by Congress or the courts.
Lerner directly affected the election with targeting conservative groups. She should be given free admission to the Crowbar Hotel with fresh linens.
Seems Lerner knew the law was too "hard" to prosecute but the law didn't slow her down a bit. To heck with law, the RATS wanted to prosecute Tea Party Patriots.
NIXON WAS NOT IMPEACHED !!!
The Dems say the Tea Party exempt groups lied. It’s as if those Cs on the Left have done no wrong. What they cannot deal with is competition of messages.
I only wish heads would roll over this, but I deal with reality. They will stall until the storm passes.
Bump For Later...
“Lois really needs to save her own hide and turn states evidence. /s”
I could be wrong, but after her 5th fiasco, she tried to ask for immunity for testimony, but the committee laughed at it.
In that case they have the good not just on her but on others involved.
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.