Issa Expands Investigation – Subpoenas 28 Years of Lois Lerner Emails

Lois Lerner, the controversial director of the tax-exempt organizations division at the Internal Revenue Service, has a long sordid history of targeting conservatives.

Under the direction of Lois Lerner, the Federal Election Commission sued the Christian Coalition in the 1990s. She harassed the Christian Coalition for three election cycles. Eventually, she lost her case. At one point Lerner even asked a targeted conservative if Pat Robertson prayed over him. (Sound familiar?)

Could be. I doubt it, as he is not a credentialed lawyer and I don’t discern “lawyerly” skill in his various interrogations.

But I have no doubt that you and I want exactly the same thing, so I am not arguing with you on that.

Really, the issue with this admin, over and over, is that it flat out doesn’t matter how deep nor how wide the lawlessness goes if there is no threat nor actuality of prosecution. It’s no more complicated than that. Whatever prosecution occurs to the characters in this thing, if it originates with Holder, my view is that it will be internally sabotaged and will go nowhere.

Gowdy is also on the Oversight Committee and took part in the recent hearings. I recall Gowdy saying in an interview about a year ago that a good prosecutor never asks a direct question unless he already knows the truthful answer. With that context, you might want to go over to the recording of the second session of the hearing (link below) and listen to Gowdy questioning the WH (and former IRS) lawyer O’Connor.

Gowdy begins questioning O’Connor around 31:00 . At the very end (close to 36:00) he asks O’Connor whether Lerner used her personal computer, and the “I know nuthin” liar mumbles “I don’t know.” Gowdy shoots back: “She did!” At which point his 5 minutes were up.

http://oversight.house.gov/hearing/irs-obstruction-lois-lerners-missing-e-mails-part-ii/

When Gowdy shot that “She did!” at her it was letting her know that she is in deep trouble. I think they have proof that O’Connor is part of the cover up. That may have been a warning to her, that she has been trapped and she should spill the beans now.

That was Tuesday. Then on Wednesday we learn about the Grassley thing: emails to and from Lerner’s Blackberry. Hmm, Lerner and others now realize that the committee has more than they thought. That also shows that a respected Republican politician was almost targeted. This targeting of Republicans is Lerner’s M.O. With that in mind, have a read of this from Lerner’s old FEC days:

http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2013/06/lerner-asked-salvi-for-200000-plus-never-run-again-promise.html

Salvi of course was a former law partner of Congressman Roskam, the House deputy Whip. They know that Lerner was intimidating people from her FEC days.

That’s why (I think) Issa is now subpoenaing the 28 years of Lerner’s documents. They will find either Lerner has pulled this “a hard drive crash ate my records” routine before, or they will find that she was abusing her power systematically for years.

Issa now comes out suggesting immunity (only with an offer of what she will say) and point blank calls this a conspiracy.

They are after Lerner, but only in so far as she leads them to a wider and bigger catch.

Of course, Gowdy does have bigger fish to fry over at the Benghazi special investigation, but he will be playing a key role with this IRS thing as well.

My opinion is just the opinion of an old Freeper who watches and thinks about the events.

Ultimately I think some will be convicted of felonies in this conspiracy. But we are a long way from that right now. Issa has referred at least four criminal counts against Lerner to the Justice Department, and they are going nowhere right now because of Holder. They have to get Holder out of there before we see any criminal investigations and indictments. This is all so obvious it doesn’t take any real analytical skills.

I also think this will take a lot of guidance from Gowdy and maybe Jordan. Gowdy in particular is sharp and aggressive. He is chairing the Benghazi scandal, so his efforts for the IRS thing may be limited. I think if Gowdy had been in charge of Oversight from the beginning we’d be further ahead right now.

I know a lot of Freepers are down on Issa, and with some reason for sure, but I think he is just in over his head. I think he’s wanted to do a good job, but the Obama administration has simply overwhelmed the House with their audacious flood of scandal. Issa is not a lawyer and not a prosecutor and can’t quite handle it. As long as he is listening to Gowdy and Jordan I think he will make headway, but slowly.

If they can make the case to the American public that Holder should be impeached, then there will be an avalanche of counts. Cold cases like Fast and Furious would be fair game again and the efforts there will not have been in vain.

The IRS thing has finally gotten the attention of the American people. The vast majority of people think there is fire behind the smoke. I think we’re getting there slowly.

I had thought there might be another leak today, but so far nothing. It might have made good fodder for the Sunday talking heads to talk about, or to ignore. I think it is too late in the cycle for that. I would anticipate early next week we may see another nudge -— something to focus on for the days leading up to the 4th of July weekend. That would be important. People gather together with family and friends for picnics and what not, and a lot of opinions on politics get discussed informally. Back in 2009, as I recall, as the Tea Party thing was getting started there was a sharp drop in obama’s approval rating right after the 4th. If the Oversight Committee has a bombshell email or development, they need to get it out there Monday or Tuesday, so by Friday it will be widely known and ready for discussing over a cold beer or two.

I did see the following thread on the Grassley connection:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3173008/posts

Some good background, but the writer does not try to pose or answer the obvious questions. Did Grassley get an invitation? I know I read that he did not get Lerner’s. If Grassley received an envelope addressed to him with Lerner’s invitation surely his office would have contacted Lerner. That did not happen. Did Lerner’s office contact Grassley’s? No one is saying. This has the look and feel of a sting operation. Grassley and his wife signed releases for releasing the information, but has anyone really asked Grassley more about it? It sure looks like someone was trying to set Grassley up, and it looks like someone in that organization was working with Lerner.

So far we’ve seen no more released information coming from the Oversight Committee, but this looks promising:

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/07/more-on-the-irss-illegal-destruction-of-evidence.php

This motion for expedited discovery is coming from True the Vote and is scheduled to be heard in court on 11 July. Hinderaker writes, “It appears powerful.” This is separate from the Judicial Watch motion which comes up on 10 July. If both of those court actions take place on schedule, and if they fall in line with expectations, there will be a political firestorm the next week. The public (even according to MSM polling) supports further inquiry of the IRS. I can’t see how the administration can tamp this down without making it reach critical mass.

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