The IRS Scandal, Day 798

Washington Examiner, With New Documents, Stench of IRS Scandal Reaches Into its Third Year:

In 2013, Lois Lerner, former head of the IRS non-profit section, pleaded the Fifth Amendment before the House Oversight Committee. She had been called to testify about her division's unjustifiable harassment of conservative applicants for nonprofit status.

Just over a year later, it was reported that a number of Lerner's work emails had gone missing due to a supposed problem with her hard drive. Then last month, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration testified that IRS employees — despite being under explicit orders not to destroy records — had "magnetically erased" as many as 24,000 of Lerner's missing emails from hundreds of data tapes where they were being stored.

Whether the emails' disappearance was innocent or not, the public is only now beginning to get more information about just what it concealed, thanks to an ongoing Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the IRS by the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch. Documents unearthed this week show that in Fall 2010, Lerner was working to get the Justice Department to prosecute nonprofits that engaged in political activity. This despite the fact that 501(c)4 groups, which cannot take tax-deductible donations, are permitted to engage in some political advocacy by law and by Civil Rights-era court precedents. ...

The original IRS scandal hinted at an intensive but narrow effort within one division to punish or at least make life difficult for the Obama administration's political opponents — the sort of thing that could perhaps be chalked up to a few bad actors. But the new documents suggest there were at least attempts to bring other agencies in on the wrongdoing. ...

This scandal continues to stink at least as badly as it did when IRS targeting of conservative non-profits was first acknowledged. This isn't a partisan political issue — unfair tax enforcement is unfair to everyone, and anyone can become a victim. Moreover, federal tax privacy laws exist because tax information is so sensitive and susceptible to abuse by politicians and ideologically interested parties.

Congress is right not to let go of this bureaucratic malfeasance, and to continue investigating what could prove to be a with a broader scope than anyone anticipated.

Daily Caller, Bozell On IRS Scandal: ‘A Tyrannical Administration Using Stalinist Tactics Against Its Political Opponents’:

The president of the Media Research Center, Brent Bozell, came out swinging Thursday in response to the revelations — uncovered by the watchdog Judicial Watch — that Lois Lerner, other officials from the IRS, the Department of Justice, and the FBI met in 2010 to discuss criminally prosecuting non-profit organizations targeted for illegal political activities.

Bozell was incensed that few media outlets bothered to cover the news. “The networks’ refusal to cover these devastating revelations borders on being complicit in a cover-up of criminal misconduct by a tyrannical administration using Stalinist tactics against its political opponents,” the conservative figure declared in a statement.

In Bozell’s opinion, the meeting revealed “criminal coordination between the IRS, FBI and the Department of Justice in an effort to politically persecute innocent, law-abiding Americans and independent organizations.”

• The IRS Scandal, Day 797 (July 15, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 796 (July 14, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 795 (July 13, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 794 (July 12, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 793 (July 11, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 792 (July 10, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 791 (July 9, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 790 (July 8, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 789 (July 7, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 788 (July 6, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 787 (July 5, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 786 (July 4, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 785 (July 3, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 784 (July 2, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 783 (July 1, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 782 (June 30, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 781 (June 29, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 780 (June 29, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 779 (June 27, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 778 (June 26, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 777 (June 25, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 776 (June 24, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 775 (June 23, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 774 (June 22, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 773 (June 21, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 772 (June 20, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 771 (June 19, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 770 (June 18, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 769 (June 17, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 768 (June 16, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 767 (June 15, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 766 (June 14, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 765 (June 13, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 764 (June 12, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 763 (June 11, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 762 (June 10, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 761 (June 9, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 760 (June 8, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 759 (June 7, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 758 (June 6, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 757 (June 5, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 756 (June 4, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 755 (June 3, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 754 (June 2, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 753 (June 1, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 752 (May 31, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 751 (May 30, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 750 (May 29, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 749 (May 28, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 748 (May 27, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 747 (May 26, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 746 (May 25, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 745 (May 24, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 744 (May 23, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 743 (May 22, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 742 (May 21, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 741 (May 20, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 740 (May 19, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 739 (May 18, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 738 (May 17, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 737 (May 16, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 736 (May 15, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 735 (May 14, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 734 (May 13, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 733 (May 12, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 732 (May 11, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 731 (May 10, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Two Years And Counting (May 9, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 729 (May 8, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 728 (May 7, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 727 (May 6, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 726 (May 5, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 725 (May 4, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 724 (May 3, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 723 (May 2, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 722 (May 1, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 721 (Apr. 30, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 720 (Apr. 29, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 719 (Apr. 28, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 718 (Apr. 27, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 717 (Apr. 26, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 716 (Apr. 25, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 715 (Apr. 24, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 714 (Apr. 23, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 713 (Apr. 22, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 712 (Apr. 21, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 711 (Apr. 20, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 710 (Apr. 19, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 709 (Apr. 18, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 708 (Apr. 17, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 707 (Apr. 16, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 706 (Apr. 15, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 705 (Apr. 14, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 704 (Apr. 13, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 703 (Apr. 12, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 702 (Apr. 11, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 701 (Apr. 10, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 601-700 (Dec. 31, 2014 - April 9, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 501-600 (Sept. 22, 2014-Dec. 30, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 401-500 (June 14, 2014 - Sept. 21,2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 301-400 (Mar. 6, 2014 - June 13, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 201-300 (Nov. 26, 2013 - Mar. 5, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 101-200 (Aug. 18, 2013 - Nov. 25, 2013)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 1-100 (May 10, 2013 - Aug. 17, 2013)