Tuesday, October 27, 2015

IRS: It ain't over ...



It's official: Lois Lerner who infamously pleaded 'the 5th' when asked questions about her role in targeting Conservatives wielding the IRS hammer, will not face any criminal charges.  Surprised?  No, me neither, given the climate these last few years in DC and the DoJ 'leadership' of Eric Holder.





From Allen West:
Department of Justice announces NO CHARGES in IRS scandal…


 Written by Michelle Jesse, Associate Editor

 October 23, 2015


Actually, I suppose it shouldn’t be shocking at all. President Obama’s Department of Justice (DOJ) just announced there will be NO charges against IRS official Lois Lerner following its investigation.

As the Washington Times reports:
IRS official Lois Lerner will not face charges following a Department of Justice investigation.
Federal prosecutors announced their decision Friday in a letter to members of Congress....

[...]
It is truly sad how unsurprising it is that under President Obama’s administration, targeting people and organizations for the “wrong” beliefs is completely acceptable....

[...]


No surprise, either, that Obama’s DOJ chose to slip this announcement quietly through late on a Friday afternoon — no man’s land as far as news goes....


End of story, right? Nothing to see here. Move along.  (That IS the Obama way, after all.) 
Well perhaps not. Today comes word that the House GOP is moving to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.  You remember him.  His insistence that  'to the 'best of my knowledge...blah blah...'

House GOP moves to impeach IRS chief

By Peter Schroeder - 10/27/15 


House Republicans have moved to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, arguing he violated the public trust.


Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) introduced an impeachment resolution Tuesday, days after the Justice Department concluded its investigation into IRS targeting of Tea Party groups with no charges filed.


“Commissioner Koskinen violated the public trust. He failed to comply with a congressionally issued subpoena, documents were destroyed on his watch, and the public was consistently misled,” Chaffetz said in a statement. “Impeachment is the appropriate tool to restore public confidence in the IRS and to protect the institutional interests of Congress.”...


[...]


Much of the committee’s impeachment charge centers around the destruction of several backup tapes that could have contained missing emails sent by Lois Lerner, the former official at the center of the IRS’s improper scrutiny of conservative groups.

Chaffetz’s resolution charges that Koskinen, who took over the IRS after the controversy emerged, failed to preserve 422 backup tapes that could have contained Lerner emails.


Republicans have argued Koskinen was not truthful when he told lawmakers he would hand over all her documents, given the destruction of the backups. Chaffetz also charged that Koskinen failed to notify Congress the evidence was missing....


Finally from Darrell Issa on social media commenting on a CNN report:

The Justice Department’s decision to close the IRS targeting investigation without a single charge or prosecution is a low point of accountability in an Administration that is better known for punishing whistleblowers than the abuse and misconduct they expose. After stating that their investigation confirms that Tea Party and conservative groups were improperly targeted, they dismiss it merely as a byproduct of gross mismanagement and incompetence – ignoring volumes of evidence in the public record and efforts to obstruct legitimate inquires.


Americans’ faith in government and in the IRS in particular, has been greatly eroded by an Administration that when confronted with instances of misconduct appears complicit in shielding those involved from responsibility. Giving Lois Lerner a free pass only reinforces the idea that government officials are above the law and that there is no consequence for wrongdoing.

And there you have it.

Stay tuned.

Video: "The IRS is lying" says Issa

IRS robbers and thugs: A Cautionary Tale



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