Dear
All,
It is now becoming undeniably and perfectly clear that President Obama lied once again to
the Citizens of America when he pointed his finger at Fox News' Bill O'Reilly during a interview and indignantly stated, “there is not one
scintilla of truth that the IRS did anything scandalous or illegal”. Same as
when former President Richard Nixon held a national news conference and stated,
“The President is not a Crook”; when up against the Watergate Scandal.
And then after Lois Lerner (the then Director of the IRS) opined that she
was not guilty of any wrong doing, she took the 5th (twice) so she couldn’t
be forced to testify before the Congressional Oversight Committee for the
Department of Justice.
Earlier, the Congressional Oversight Committee for the Department of
Justice voted to hold USAG Holder in “Contempt of Congress” and just two weeks
ago they did the same for Lois Lerner.
The noose is slowing tightening around the necks of these two individuals
and the Obama Administration.
Ron Kirkish
Oversight Committee Members Demand Answers About DOJ Role in Targeting Conservative Groups With the IRS
House Oversight Chairman Darrell
Issa and sixteen Committee members are demanding answers from Attorney General
Eric Holder after it was revealed last week, through a series of
emails, former IRS official Lois Lerner
was in contact with the Director of the Election Crimes Branch of the Department
of Justice Public Integrity Section Richard Pilger about prosecuting tax exempt groups. A newly released email obtained by Judicial
Watch through a Freedom of Information Request shows someone instructed Pilger
to run the idea of prosecution by Lerner, but it is unclear who the instruction
came from.
“When you have a moment, would you call
me? I have been asked to run something by you," a May 8, 2013 email from Pilger
to Lerner states.
Shortly after Pilger's contact, Lerner
forwarded the following email to Nicole Flax, the former chief of staff to
former IRS Commissioner Steven Miller, who visited the White House 118 times
between 2010 and 2011 when the bulk of the IRS targeting of conservatives took
place.
"I got a call today from Richard Pilger
Director Elections Crimes Branch at DOJ ... He wanted to know who at IRS the DOJ
folk s [sic] could talk to about Sen. Whitehouse idea at the hearing
that DOJ could piece together false statement cases about applicants who
"lied" on their 1024s --saying they weren't planning on doing political
activity, and then turning around and making large visible political
expenditures.
DOJ is feeling like it needs to respond,
but want to talk to the right folks at IRS to see whether there are impediments
from our side and what, if any damage this might do to IRS programs.
I told him that sounded like we might
need several folks from IRS," Lerner wrote in a May 8, 2013 email.
Flax responded by saying she not only
wanted to help, but wanted to
rope in the Criminal Division of DOJ.
"I think we should do it – also need to
include CI [Criminal
Investigation Division], which we can help coordinate.
Also, we need to reach out to
FEC.
Does it make sense to consider including
them in this or keep it separate?" Flax responded on May 9, 2013.
In another email more than a month
before the exchange with DOJ, Lerner detailed how a single prosecution of
just one tax-exempt group would essentially send a chilling affect across all
[conservative] groups.
"One IRS prosecution would make an
impact and they wouldn’t feel so
comfortable doing stuff.
So, don’t be fooled about how this is
being articulated – it is ALL about 501(c)(4) orgs and political activity," she
wrote on March 27, 2013 adding, "There are several groups of folks from the FEC
world that are pushing tax fraud prosecution for c4s who report they are not
conducting political activity when they are (or these folks think they are).
One is my ex-boss Larry Noble (former
General Counsel at the FEC), who is now president of Americans for Campaign
Reform.
This is their latest push to shut these
down."
Just two days after these emails were
exchanged between DOJ, Lerner and Flax, news the IRS inappropriately targeted
conservative groups surfaced.
"Mr. Pilger’s communications with
Ms. Lerner are also striking for their timing.
They show that the IRS and the Justice
Department were actively considering efforts to target
tax-exempt organizations just two days before Ms. Lerner’s public apology for the
targeting.
This information certainly
undermines the sincerity of Ms. Lerner’s apology, but it calls into question
your reaction that targeting was “outrageous” and “unacceptable.”
These comments ring hollow in light
of evidence that your subordinates apparently colluded with the IRS to target
nonprofit groups less than a week before.
We are severely disappointed in the
Department’s apparent contribution to the Administration’s targeting of
tax-exempt applicants," a letter sent directly to Holder from Issa and
other Committee members states.
"This e-mail is shocking on several
levels.
As an initial matter, this e-mail is
further evidence that the Administration’s targeting and inappropriate treatment
of conservative tax-exempt applicants was the result of political pressure from
prominent Democrats to “fix the problem” posed by the Supreme Court’s Citizens
United decision.
Information obtained by the Committee
shows that beginning in 2010, the President and congressional Democrats loudly
and aggressively criticized the Court’s decision and conservative nonprofit
groups that they believed would benefit from it."
"This e-mail makes clear that the
Justice Department, like the IRS and the Securities and Exchange Commission,
played a role in a government-wide effort to target political speech.
Certainly, as is apparent in this
e-mail, the Department felt the need to do something in response to Democratic
rhetoric against nonprofit political speech.
More unbelievably, this e-mail also suggests
that the Department actually considered prosecuting nonprofit groups for their
political activities.
Even more astounding, the Department
considered prosecuting these groups for actions that are legal for 501(c)(4)
nonprofits under federal tax law – that is, engaging in political speech.
The Department’s use of alleged false
statement on the tax-exempt application is an unfortunate instance of
prosecutorial “gotcha,” targeting these victims for supposed “lies” about
activities that they are legally allowed to do.
In this way, the tactics suggested by
Mr. Pilger appear to be nothing more than harassment by the Justice Department
of groups engaged in otherwise lawful activity."
Issa and members are demanding to
know who at DOJ gave the instructions to ask the IRS to look into prosecutions
and asking for documentation surrounding the
communication.
The Committee is also asking for Pilger
to be available for a transcribed interview.
Documentation must be produced by DOJ by May
5, 2014.
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