IRS Political Targeting: A Case Study

Wayne Allyn Root is telling of his experience of being politically targeted by the IRS.  Not only is his an interesting case study, it is pretty much a smoking gun.

The whole thing must be read, and I cannot just copy it all here.  But here are brief excerpts from Root that stand out (Emphasis is mine.):

But we’re only getting started with the criminal implications of this case. My IRS auditor wrote into the margin of my file that he spent hours researching my political views. How chilling is that revelation? It sounds like the KGB, Stasi or even the Gestapo….

The reason it may have taken the IRS fourteen months [a delay that itself violates the law – Ed.] to turn my IRS files over to Judicial Watch is that they state a United States senator from Oregon was involved. At the time both senators from Oregon were Democrats…

But wait, we’re not done. On May 23, 2013, my case was officially closed. Recognize that date? It's the exact day that IRS official Lois Lerner was suspended and the day after she testified in front of Congress (and refused to answer questions on the grounds it might incriminate her). Coincidence?

Answer: No.  Obama’s thugs and the IRS (But I repeat myself.) knew what they were doing.  And when it was clear their cover was being blown to bits, they did their best to clam up and cover up.

The only question is how much did Obama know.

I heartily agree with Ace’s conclusion: “People need to go to jail.”

So Those “Lost” Lois Lerner E-mails Aren’t So Lost After All

You may remember that the Obama Administration, particularly his current IRS Commissioner, has done a long song-and-dance that Lois Lerner’s e-mails were lost in a hard drive crash.  And – gosh, we’re sooooo sorry – we cannot recover them.  (Not to mention all the other perp’s hard drives that have crashed.)

Well that song-and-dance is being exposed as “a big lie.”

'The Department of Justice attorney told the Judicial Watch attorney on Friday.' Fitton said during a Monday afternoon Fox News broadcast, 'that it turns out the federal government backs up all computer records in case something terrible happens in Washington and there is a catastrophe, so the government can continue operating.'

The catch, he added, is that the DOJ attorney also claimed 'it would be too hard to go and get Lois Lerner's emails from that backup system.'

The Justice Department is representing the federal government in the lawsuit.

'So everything we've been hearing about scratched hard drives, about missing emails of Lois Lerner, [and] other IRS officials, other officials in the Obama administration,' Fitton told Fox, 'it's all been a pack of malarkey.'

'They could get these records, but they don't want to. And they haven't told anyone about it, frankly, until we were able to get it out of them on Friday.'

'And there's no such thing as Lois Lerner's missing e-mails,' he insisted. 'It's all been a big lie. They've been lying to the courts, to the American people and to Congress.'

And this practically cries out for indictments for Obstruction of Justice, if not Perjury, particularly of said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.

It also begs the question of why is the Obama administration engaging in such efforts to keep Lois Lerner’s e-mails from the courts and Congress, inviting the wrath of both.  I strongly suspect her e-mails would damn the White House for being behind the IRS targeting of conservatives.  Why else would the Obama regime take the risk of such a brazen cover-up?

Speaking of cover-up, the IRS wiped out Lois Lerner’s Blackberry, which also contained her e-mails.  And that months after Congressional investigations of IRS targeting began.

The Instapundit has it right – “gangster government.”  But the “mainstream” snooze media?  Nothing on this.  Nothing to see here.  It seems ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN are in on the cover-up, too.

The next thing I expect is for the Obama regime to plead that the back-ups of Lois Lerner’s e-mails are somehow “lost,” too.  And the snooze media will ignore that as well.  You can bet money on it.

Ah, I remember when the news media made a big deal about Richard Nixon’s missing 18 minutes of tape. 

But that administration was not Democrat.

The Criminal Obama Regime Cover-up and Democrat Silence

Yes, I said it.  Someone has to.  The Obama Administration is a criminal regime.  It has gotten to the point where Obama deserves to be impeached under RICO statutes.

We are now up to 20 Obama Regime officials who have “lost” e-mails.  At least most of them were under investigation, and all are under federal law mandating retention of e-mails. What are they hiding?  What evidence did they destroy?

In the case of Lois Lerner, it is safe to assume that using the IRS, FEC, and God knows what else to attack and muzzle Obama’s political opponents is being covered up.  Have we become a Third World banana republic?

And that is not the only way Obama’s people are obstructing investigations.  Forty-seven – that’s FORTY-SEVEN – Inspectors General have signed a letter decrying Obama Regime obstruction of their access to Fed records.  The letter states:

Each of us strongly supports the principle that an inspector general must have complete, unfiltered, and timely access to all information and materials available to the agency that relate to that IG’s oversight activities, without unreasonable administrative burdens. The importance of this principle, which was codified by Congress in Section 6(a)(1) of the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended (the IG Act), cannot be overstated. Refusing, restricting, or delaying an IG's access to documents leads to incomplete, inaccurate, or significantly delayed findings or recommendations, which in turn may prevent the agency from promptly correcting serious problems and deprive Congress of timely information regarding the agency’s performance.

It is now clear that the cover-up of Obama Regime criminality is systematic and cuts through numerous Fed agencies.

But where are the Democrats?  Under Nixon, several Republicans insisted that the truth be found out about his administration, and it was Republicans dropping their support of him that prompted him to resign.  But today’s Democrats?

Silent.

The question is, where are the Democrats in the face of this obvious malfeasance?

During the Watergate scandal that brought down the presidency of Richard Nixon, a few Republicans came forward and urged the president to come clean. Yet, the silence is deafening from Democrats in both the House and Senate in the wake of this obvious obstruction of the congressional oversight function.

Where are the patriots on the Democratic side, who are willing to stand up to an executive branch that has declared them inconsequential?

The Democrats' partisan acquiescence to Obama's declaration of war against congressional prerogatives sets the precedent that future presidents can hardly be faulted for following. A precedent that makes a mockery of the legislative branch and brings into question why we bother even providing office space for Congress at all?

With 20 Obama officials from all over the government losing critical emails, one wonders what, if any, is the threshold for Democratic outrage?

When are the Democratic Party and their elected officials going to put our nation ahead of partisanship?

If the past few years are any indication, I'm not holding my breath.

Neither am I.  But if Obama and his thugs finally get the justice they deserve, the Democrats who were silent and even cheerleaded the criminality (e. g. Demorat Senators Schumer, Franken, Tom Udall, Jeanne Shaheen, and more urging IRS muzzling of conservatives) will deserve every bit of the political fall-out and more.

Another Day, Another Hard Drive Missing UPDATED

Yes, yet another hard drive relating to the operations of Lois Lerner has gone missing.  This time it is from a very partisan hack who worked under Lerner at the Federal Election Commission.

The Federal Election Commission recycled the computer hard drive of April Sands — a former co-worker of Lois Lerner’s — hindering an investigation into Sands’ partisan political activities, according to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Sands resigned from the Federal Election Commission in April after she admitted to violating the Hatch Act, which bars executive branch employees from engaging in partisan political activities on federal time and at federal facilities.

The twist is that Sands also worked under Lois Lerner when the ex-IRS agent — who is currently embroiled in a scandal over the targeting of conservative political groups — worked at the FEC’s enforcement division.

Both Sands and Lerner were notorious for using their positions at the FEC to target conservatives.  And when I say Sands was very partisan, I am not overstating matters:

One of Sands’ tweets, from June 4, 2012 read “I just don’t understand how anyone but straight white men can vote Republican. What kind of delusional rhetorical does one use?”

Sands is a black female.

“Dear every single Republican ever, When will U learn that Barack Hussein Obama is simply smarter than U? Stand down, Signed #Obama2012 #p2,” Sands wrote on May 1, 2012.

In a message fro Aug. 25, 2012, Sands called Republicans her “enemy.”

In others, Sands issued fundraising pleas on behalf of Obama. “Our #POTUS’s birthday is August 4. He’ll be 51. I’m donating $51 to give him the best birthday present ever: a second term,” she wrote on July 18, 2012.

“The bias in these messages is striking, especially for an attorney charged with the responsibility to enforce federal election laws fairly and dispassionately,” read the Oversight letter to Goodman, an Obama appointee.

But I trust she did not conspire with Lois Lerner at the FEC to target conservatives.  And I’m sure her hard drive gone missing, and that after known illegal conduct on her part, is just an convenient unfortunate coincidence.

Seriously, when are we going to get real?  With all these hard drives “lost” surrounding Lois Lerner, there is obviously a cover-up going on.  There should be a strong aggressive prosecutor going after Lois Lerner, the IRS, the FEC, and the Obama Administration NOW.

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MORE: Ed Morrissey has more color on this:

The Hatch Act requires strict neutrality of all federal employees while on duty, and one would expect that to be particularly observed in the FEC. Instead, Sands tweeted partisan messages from her office in 2012; sent out fundraising pleas for Obama’s re-election campaign, called Republicans her “enemy,” and said they should shut up and “stand down.”

When the Inspector General came knocking, however, the evidence had vanished. The FEC “recycled” her hard drive, which meant that criminal charges could not be pursued. How exactly could this have happened? Sands was under suspicion of a crime under a statute which would be updated later that year, in a bill signed by Barack Obama himself. Shouldn’t the FEC have taken steps to secure evidence rather than destroy it?. . .

Issa now wants Goodman to produce all of the data surrounding the destruction of evidence at the FEC, and wants it by July 28th. How many more hard drives will get “recycled” at the FEC between then and now? The sky’s the limit in the Obama administration.

No kidding.  Which makes the appointment of a prosecutor all the more urgent.

The “Lost” IRS E-mails – Close to a Smoking Gun?

This has been a busy week and is a busy weekend as I lead Morning Prayer, preach a sermon and teach young adults tomorrow.  But I cannot let pass without note developments on the IRS scandal, particularly the oh-so-conveniently “lost” e-mails of Lois Lerner and other key IRS players.

We may now be nearer a smoking gun on an IRS cover-up or worse than most think.  First, circumstantial evidence surrounding the lost e-mails is close to damning.  Kim Strassel, in an excellent must-read piece, notes that the supposed crash of Lois Lerner’s hard drive occurred about ten days after Ways and Means Committee Chair David Camp sent a letter to the IRS asking if they were engaged in political targeting.  Coincidence or convenience?

And if you think e-mails weren’t “lost” to protect Obama, consider that another IRS official whose e-mails were “lost”, Nikole Flax, visited the White House more than thirty times.

Second, the “lost” e-mails bring us to a point where it would take only one whistleblower and not a very high up one – perhaps from IRS IT? – to blow the lid off this scandal and cover-up.  It would not take much at this point to prove what is already obvious – the IRS is covering up criminal abuse of their power for political objectives.

Downfall X: IRS Chief Counsel Met With Obama 2 Days Before Issuing Tea Party Targeting Instructions

Last month, I explained why, although he’s guilty as Hell, I do not expect a smoking gun directly linking Obama to the IRS scandals or other Obamagate scandals for that matter.

But after this revelation yesterday, I am beginning to wonder.  On April 23^rd, 2012, IRS Chief Counsel William Wilkins, one of only two Obama political appointees to the IRS, spent seven hours at the White House and met with Obama during that time.  And guess what happened two days later . . .

On April 25, 2012, Wilkins sent Hull and fellow Washington-based IRS official Lois Lerner [Her, yet again – Ed.] “additional comments on the draft guidance” for approving or denying tea party tax-exempt applications, according to the IRS’ inspector general’s report.

Now can this be just a coincidence?  Sure, but likely not.

I think Obama gave his approval in some form to tea party targeting during that meeting with Wilkins. (And that approval may have been in the form of “Carry on” as targeting was already occurring.) A month ago, I would have found such direct approval unlikely due to Obama’s disconnected leadership style.  But the timing of the meeting and of the guidance just two days later is close to damning.  The main question in my mind now is will someone confess that Obama gave approval of IRS targeting.  And I do not yet have an opinion on that question.

If someone does confess to Obama’s approval of IRS targeting, it will be the Downfall of the Obama regime.

MORE:

Another interesting coincidence.  Jeffrey Zients, who met during IRS officials during the targeting, and who resigned from the Obama Administration two weeks before the scandal broke, disappeared since then and is now out of the country.  Hmmmm.

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Downfall is an ongoing series anticipating and tracking what I expect will be the self-destruction of Obama.

The first post may be found here.  The series may be found here.