Posted on 08/26/2014 3:57:39 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
Lois Lerner’s Blackberry was intentionally destroyed after Congress had begun its probe into IRS targeting of conservative groups, a senior IRS lawyer acknowledged in a sworn declaration.
Thomas Kane, Deputy Assistant Chief Counsel for the IRS, wrote in the declaration, part of a lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch against the IRS, that the Blackberry was "removed or wiped clean of any sensitive or proprietary information and removed as scrap for disposal in June 2012."
That date - June 2012 - is significant because by that time, ex-IRS official Lerner had already been summoned before congressional staffers who interviewed her about reports of the IRS' targeting of conservative groups.
"We had already talked to her. Our personal staff and Oversight Committee staff had sat down with Ms. Lerner and confronted her about information we were getting from conservative groups in the state of Ohio and around the country," Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Fox News.
"If you intentionally destroy evidence, that is a crime. If you make a statement in court saying the evidence is not available and it is, that is also a crime," said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Tampering with evidence was a crime the last time I saw.
Perhaps - just perhaps - the Committee is taking its time so that Lois et al will not face charges until AFTER Nobama is gone so he can’t give pardons? What’s the point for the Committee to go through the steps of charging Lois et al, having them arrested and Nobama turns around and gives them pardons?
Until Lerner, Holder, and all the others who are doing these crimes actually sit in jail and lose their pensions for life, the criminal justice system and the very laws themselves are a sick, sick joke.
I just told my son as we were walking this morning, “Just once, I want the American people and the law enforcement system to SHOW that being a politician is NOT a license to commit crimes with impunity.”
Actually I want more than that. I want us to show it EVERY TIME. But it has to start with it happening even just ONCE.
mens rea
HF
“The IDIOT Republicans don’t want to be like the Democrats (indicting Rick Perry) by seeming political. Never mind, unlike with Perry, the IRS issues are REAL CRIMES.”
You don’t get it, the republicans will never prosecute these people because they want to do the same thing when they are in power. It’s kind of like a you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours type of thing. Learned that lesson when Bush Jr was elected and did not go after any of the crimes committed by Rats then.
2011 FEDERAL SENTENCING GUIDELINES MANUAL
CHAPTER TWO - OFFENSE CONDUCT
PART J - OFFENSES INVOLVING THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE
§2J1.2. Obstruction of Justice
(a) Base Offense Level: 14
(b) Specific Offense Characteristics
(1) (Apply the greatest):
(A) If the (i) defendant was convicted under 18 U.S.C. § 1001; and (ii) statutory maximum term of eight years’ imprisonment applies because the matter relates to sex offenses under 18 U.S.C. § 1591 or chapters 109A, 109B, 110, or 117 of title 18, United States Code, increase by 4 levels.
(B) If the offense involved causing or threatening to cause physical injury to a person, or property damage, in order to obstruct the administration of justice, increase by 8 levels.
(C) If the (i) defendant was convicted under 18 U.S.C. § 1001 or § 1505; and (ii) statutory maximum term of eight years’ imprisonment applies because the matter relates to international terrorism or domestic terrorism, increase by 12 levels.
(2) If the offense resulted in substantial interference with the administration of justice, increase by 3 levels.
(3) If the offense (A) involved the destruction, alteration, or fabrication of a substantial number of records, documents, or tangible objects; (B) involved the selection of any essential or especially probative record, document, or tangible object, to destroy or alter; or (C) was otherwise extensive in scope, planning, or preparation, increase by 2 levels.
(c) Cross Reference
(1) If the offense involved obstructing the investigation or prosecution of a criminal offense, apply §2X3.1 (Accessory After the Fact) in respect to that criminal offense, if the resulting offense level is greater than that determined above.
http://www.ussc.gov/guidelines-manual/2011/2011-2j12
Yes, there’s obstruction of justice, but isn’t the crime of using the IRS to target political enemies an even bigger crime?
Frankly I'm beginning to wonder. One would think it's a massive crime, but I don't sense any concern about it.
D’oh!
Yes, using the IRS to target political enemies is the more serious crime - racketeering, conspiracy, etc.
However, the attorney for the IRS basically admitted in his statement today that obstruction had occurred, as the Blackberry was “deliberately destroyed.”
So we can start with 8-12, and build from there.
Yes, it is called obstruction of justice, 18usc1515. It has a nice penalty which includes some jail time which I’d love to see her facing tomorrow. Of course, the just us department has to prosecute it. Since it occurred in the district of columbia, my suspicion is the charge needs be brought by the federal prosecutor there.
The current USA for DC is Ronald Machen. He was appointed by Obola. He was asked to look into the Lerner matter in May 2014 by Obola. I wonder what the chances are this will be prosecuted...my guess, next to zero, on the negative side.
Lon Horuchi
Now, there is a name that will live in infamy.
Only after trying to frame a poor beaten up cop that was just doing his job!
They were in on the Tea Party targeting, of course. This was a bipartisan effort.
That smug little liar won’t be prosecuted. She’s untouchable, being a favored gov’t employee and all...
Obama will break the law to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Lerner needs to be wearing prison stripes for a very long time, IMO.
I believe they are allowing this to fester enough....that it becomes the 2016 big topic for the Presidential race....and the intention is to bring up changing the IRS entirely. Course, I don’t think it’ll work because they will simply want to replace version A of the IRS with version B....which does the same exact thing.
If there was ever a point to prove out the 80,000 pages of taxation text being garbage and the unit out of control....this is it. I think five out of ten Americans would presently agree on a plain-vanilla flat-tax for industry and private citizens.
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