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Wednesday, October 26, 2016

The IRS Scandal, Day 1266: Obama Denies Any ‘Major Scandals’ In His Administration — What About The IRS Scandal?

IRS Logo 2The Daily Signal, 9 Controversies Obama Didn’t Mention When He Denied Any ‘Major Scandals’:

President Barack Obama discarded eight years of controversies surrounding his administration, including the targeting of conservative groups, veterans lacking health care, the administration’s response to a terrorist attack weeks before the 2012 election, and a botched gun sting.

During a Democratic fundraising event in San Diego Sunday, Obama attacked Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the former chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, for the various investigations into the administration.

“Here’s a guy who called my administration perhaps the most corrupt in history, despite the fact that actually, we have not had a major scandal in my administration,” Obama told Democratic donors. ...

Here’s a list of nine controversies that Obama didn’t mention at the Democratic fundraiser, but that nevertheless leave many unanswered questions. ....

1. IRS Targeting Scandal

In 2013, Lois Lerner, former director of the IRS Exempt Organizations division, admitted that officials in the IRS’ Cincinnati office acted improperly. The move was meant to preempt the release of a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, which found a sustained targeting of conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.

Lerner asserted her innocence in the matter before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, then invoked her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination to avoid cross-examination of her claims. The House voted to find her in contempt of Congress.

Justice Department prosecutor Barbara Bosserman, who had donated $6,750 to Obama’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee from 2004 to 2012, investigated the matter and declined to bring up charges.

House investigators did not find a direct link from the White House to the IRS scandal.

The Justice Department was aware of the matter two years before Congress and took no action, according to documents obtained by the government watchdog group Judicial Watch through the Freedom of Information Act.

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2016/10/the-irs-scandal-day-1226-obama-denies-any-major-scandals-in-his-administration-what-about-the-irs-sc.html

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Comments

Gotta love the President, taking a page from Publius' book and attacking Congressional oversight. "I taught constitutional law, I know a little about this, I get it," said the President earlier this year. Perhaps he never had himself in mind when he taught about checks and balances, which is Constitutionally-mandated. Now the President wants to "knock off" anybody in Congress who's actually following the Constitution.

I understand why the President didn't mention it, he'd be caught in another Big Lie, but even the Daily Caller was silent on the NSA mass surveillance program. Arguably the largest and most systematic violation of the 4th Amendment in U.S. history, which Chancellor Angela Merkel, who would obviously know, called "like the Stasi", the program which the President didn't start but expanded by many orders of magnitiude was found to be totally illegal by a federal appeals court.

Had the voters known about that, and the IRS targeting, and the DOJ spying on reporters, etc. before the 2012 election like they had a right to, I very much doubt the President would be in his current position and self-aggrandizing as usual...

Posted by: MM | Oct 26, 2016 7:08:32 AM

Deny. Obfuscate. Make counter-accusations. Just standard operating procedure for government malfeasance these days. As the ad says, "It's just what they do."

Posted by: ruralcounsel | Oct 26, 2016 4:35:15 AM