Free Republic

Former Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) has died at the age of 87. The Levin Center at Wayne State University announced the late senator’s death Thursday evening, calling him "a dearly beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle, and life-long public servant.” “For those who were lucky enough to be a part of his early work in Detroit, his decades in the Senate, and beyond, he was an inspirational leader and so much more,” the statement said. “He will be remembered for his relentless intellect and work ethic, his humility, his humor, and his strength of character,” it added. Levin, the...

UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites)'s new chief of staff heads to Washington on Wednesday to meet with critics and supporters of the United Nations (news - web sites) following a critical report of U.N. actions in the oil-for-food program in Iraq (news - web sites). Mark Malloch Brown's high-profile trip is aimed at informing U.S. lawmakers about ongoing U.N. management and administrative reforms and appears to be the opening salvo in a new offensive by Annan to present the world body in a more positive light. One of the U.S. lawmakers Malloch Brown is scheduled...

<p>Navy Secretary Ray Mabus says in a letter that he has the power to name warships as he chooses, in response to a former Marine and congressman who charges he has politicized the process.</p> <p>Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican and House Armed Services Committee member, wrote Mr. Mabus to question the naming of an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer after former Sen. Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.</p>

A member of the House Armed Services Committee wants an explanation for why the next Arleigh-Burke class guided-missile destroyer will be named for a politician instead of a war hero. Rep. Duncan Hunter, a Republican from California and a Marine Corps veteran, sent a letter to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus Wednesday, asking him to explain his decision to name DDG-120 after former Sen. Carl Levin, a Democrat from Michigan, who retired last January after 36 years in office. The letter was first reported by Defense News. Hunter cited July 2012 Congressional Research Service report to Congress that showed that destroyers...

Hillary Clinton will attend a $2,700-a-plate luncheon on Friday at the Beverly Hills home of a man who was investigated by the Senate for hiding $68 million in assets in an offshore tax haven. Peter Lowy, who was born in Australia but is a U.S. citizen, is chief executive officer of the Westfield Group, one of the world’s largest owners of shopping malls. The company was founded by his father, Frank Lowy, and is controlled by the Lowy family. The family came under fire in 2008 when a report from then-Sens. Carl Levin (D., Mich.) and Norm Coleman (R., Minn.)...

I was targeted by the IRS in a coordinated attack at the highest levels of government...and we now have the proof. My IRS files, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by Judicial Watch, clearly implicate the IRS and a Democratic U.S. senator. "An IRS audit that required researching my political views clearly wasn’t a “normal random audit.” I was targeted for my political views. My civil rights were clearly violated." Per Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch: “The Obama IRS obstructed the release of Wayne Root’s tax documents. The abuse of process Judicial Watch and Wayne suffered through to...

The IRS documents released by the government watchdog group on April 9 revealed that the senator, along with Senator Carl Levin, pressured the agency to go after political nonprofits – which turned out to be overwhelmingly conservative non-profits.. A May 1, 2013, email exchange between Lois Lerner and other top IRS staffers revealed that 11 days prior to Lerner’s admission in a ABA meeting that the IRS had “inappropriately” targeted conservative groups, she met with select top staffers from the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee in a “marathon” meeting to discuss concerns raised by both Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) and Sen....

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee released new information on Thursday that he claims is evidence that the Bush administration misled the nation in the run-up to the war in Iraq. In a speech on the Senate floor, retiring Sen. Carl Levin, a Democrat, outlined a 2003 CIA cable that warns George W. Bush administration officials against making references to claims that Mohammad Atta — the man who led the Sept. 11 hijackers — met with an Iraqi intelligence officer in the Czech Republic before the Sept. 11, 2011, attacks. Levin claims Bush officials used the unconfirmed meeting...

One of the Senate’s leading liberals is borrowing a page from the playbook of Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is pushing to strike out language from the “cromnibus” spending bill unveiled Tuesday that would roll back restrictions on “swaps” transactions included in the 2010 financial regulatory overhaul known as Dodd-Frank. Repealing the “push-out” provision would mean that certain derivatives could again be held in bank units with federal deposit insurance. Using a strategy sometimes employed by Cruz for entirely different policy reasons, Warren said that with the $1.013 trillion spending package first being considered by the...

The Democratic assault on the CIA’s tough interrogation tactics against al Qaeda and other terrorists after 9/11 was pushed Wednesday to a new level when a top senator accusing the Bush White House of playing a role in the destruction of video evidence of “torture.” Sen. Carl Levin, the retiring chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said it “reminds me of Watergate.” The Michigan senator was referring to a section of the Democratic report on the CIA tactics released Tuesday that noted the destruction of videos the day after his proposal to establish an independent commission to probe the...

A top Senate Democrat lent credibility to conservative efforts to block President Obama’s pending administrative amnesty, explaining that Congress has the authority to withhold funding for presidential initiatives. “It happens all the time,” retiring Senator Carl Levin (D., Mich.) told National Review Online while walking through the Capitol Thursday evening. Levin emphasized the distinction between shutting down the government, as happened last year, and refusing to appropriate money for something. “That’s not uncommon that there’s amendments saying ‘none of the funds in this appropriation bill may be spent for’ — fill in the blank,” Levin said. Republican lawmakers are debating...

A bipartisan group of senators from across the political spectrum—from Elizabeth Warren and Patrick J. Leahy to Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio—wants President Barack Obama to speak out and act to support Hong Kong’s democracy movement.They don’t specify exactly what they want Obama to do—they say “demonstrable, meaningful steps”—but note that a 1992 law “authorizes you to suspend trade and economic provisions should Beijing not provide sufficient autonomy for Hong Kong.”Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who is president pro tempore and Judiciary chairman, leads the letter with Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Rubio.“The people of Hong Kong have sent a strong...

Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) thinks folks were hearing things during General Martin Dempsey’s testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee this morning. When asked if he thought Dempsey’s comments, that a limited American troop presence could be required in certain circumstances in the fight against ISIS, meant the general was opening the door to ground troops, Levin looked at reporters as if they were a dog that had just been shown a card trick. “No,” Levin said. “He said they’re not needed.” Levin was pressed on Dempsey’s comments, in which the general said that a specific mission, such as the...

Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, is putting the finishing touches on his supposed “investigation” of the IRS scandal that will, in essence, be a press release for the IRS and the administration, a reliable source tells me. The Michigan Democrat apparently dismisses all of the allegations made over the targeting of tea party and other conservative organizations and instead attacks the Office of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, which revealed the scandal when it issued its May 2013 report about the “inappropriate criteria” used to “identify tax-exempt applications for review.”

Top White House officials have reportedly been holding private meetings with lawmakers this week to boost support for the president’s foreign policy strategy, although the outreach effort appears to have left some lawmakers confused and upset. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) described a meeting with White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and National Security Adviser Susan Rice earlier this week as “one of the most bizarre I've attended on Foreign Relations on foreign policy in our country.” “I know several of us were involved in a very bizarre discussion last night. This continues a very bizarre discussion,” Corker added, according...

Woops! Looks like another batch of email obtained by Judicial Watch shows Democratic operatives deeply involved in yet another phony scandal. The Daily Caller says old Senator Carl Levin (D - Michigan) pressured the IRS to prosecute persecute conservative groups: Levin, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs’ permanent subcommittee on investigations, wrote a March 30, 2012 letter to then-IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman discussing the “urgency” of the issue of possible political activity by nonprofit applicants. Levin asked if the IRS was sending out additional information requests to applicant groups and citing an IRS rejection letter to a...

Contrary to the White Houses explanation that a few rogue agents in Cincinnati lead the targeting of Tea Party groups by the IRS, newly released emails obtained by Judicial Watch detail Democratic Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) pressuring the IRS to target conservative groups. On March 30, 2012 Levin wrote to then IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman about his concern with the political activity by conservative nonprofits. “Some entities claiming tax-exempt status as social welfare organizations under 26 U.S.C.&501(c)(4) appear to be engaged in political activities more appropriate for political organizations claiming tax-exempt status under 26 U.S.C.&527. Because of the urgency of...

The IRS’ Washington, D.C. headquarters targeted conservative groups in part due to pressure from Democratic Sen. Carl Levin, according to emails obtained by the watchdog group Judicial Watch and reviewed by The Daily Caller. Levin, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs’ permanent subcommittee on investigations, wrote a March 30, 2012 letter to then-IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman discussing the “urgency” of the issue of possible political activity by nonprofit applicants. Levin asked if the IRS was sending out additional information requests to applicant groups and citing an IRS rejection letter to a conservative group as an example of...

This video seems to show Lois Lerner discussing the pressure she is under to target conservative groups Lois Lerner speaks at the Sanford School of Public Policy on October 19, 2010. This video was released in 2013; but as the cover-up continues, it’s important that people understand the pressure surrounding Lois Lerner in the lead-up to the 2012 election to target conservative non-profit groups. The most important question to ask is, “Where was this pressure coming from?”

Mark Levin weighs in on the new emails revealing Washington DC’s hands in the IRS scandal as well as exposing how Carl Levin tried to pressure the IRS to prosecute conservative groups: