Irs Explodes Into A Huge Scandal Now
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I hate to say it, but this "scandal" is starting to fall apart as well. It's looking more and more like the "targeting" was what they said it was - inappropriate search terms. There seems to be no political agenda behind it at all.
More and more, it's looking like bureaucratic incompetence.
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so you encourage a special prosecutor and investigation?
WSS
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I hate to say it, but this "scandal" is starting to fall apart as well. It's looking more and more like the "targeting" was what they said it was - inappropriate search terms. There seems to be no political agenda behind it at all.
More and more, it's looking like bureaucratic incompetence.
I hate to say it, but this "scandal" is starting to fall apart as well. It's looking more and more like the "targeting" was what they said it was - inappropriate search terms. There seems to be no political agenda behind it at all.
More and more, it's looking like bureaucratic incompetence.
NO! They're trying to stamp out the tea party for being too influential! Don't question it.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Two Internal Revenue Service agents working in the agency's Cincinnati office say higher-ups inWashington directed the targeting of conservative political groups when they applied for tax-exempt status, a contention that directly contradicts claims made by the agency since the scandal erupted last month.
The Cincinnati agents didn't provide proof that senior IRS officialsin Washington ordered the targeting. But one of the agents said her work processing the applications was closely supervised by a Washington lawyer in the IRS division that handles applications for tax-exempt status, according to a transcript of her interview with congressional investigators.
Her interview suggests a long trail of emails that could support her claim.
The revelation could prove to be significant if investigators are able to show that Washington officials were involved in singling out tea party and other conservative groups for extra scrutiny. IRS officials have said repeatedly that the targeting was initiated by front-line agents in the Cincinnati office and was stopped once senior officials in Washington found out.
A yearlong audit by the agency's inspector general found no evidence that Washington officials ordered or authorized the targeting. However, the inspector general blamed ineffective management by senior IRS officials for allowing the targeting to continue for nearly two years during the 2010 and 2012 elections.
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It's already been established, btw, that Ms. Lerner told the one pro life group, to drop out of
political activity, and she would have the IRS audit threat cancelled. The group had to promise
not to picket any abortion clinics. Lerner needs to be drug back into Congress and testify.
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The IRS Implodes Into Not a Huge Scandal Now. From the Washington Post:
A self-described “conservative Republican” manager from the Cincinnati office told congressional investigators that he sent a tea party case to Washington on Feb. 25, 2010 to help determine whether the group should qualify for tax-exempt status, according to the excerpts.
A timeline from the inspector general’s report listed an event on that same date as the genesis of the targeting initiative, which first focused on groups with names including “tea party,” “patriot” and “9/12,” a term associated with conservative political commentator Glenn Beck.
A screening agent from the Cincinnati office told congressional investigators that he developed the initial search criteria after the conservative manager asked him to identify additional cases, according to Cummings.
“I noticed that there were hundreds of these things,” the agent reportedly said about tea party groups he discovered on the Internet. “So some of the names I used — some of the terms — to find the tea parties. Tea party went by other names.”
According to Cummings’ memo, the conservative IRS manager said no one from Washington ordered him to identify additional tea party cases. “There was no — there was no — no one said to make a search,” the employee said, according to an excerpt.
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So here's what we know now about the "political targeting" of right wing groups:
- It started with a self-described "conservative Republican" manager, who asked a screening agent to come up with a formula to search for these groups, because they were overwhelmed by the number of them. Obviously, this was not done for political reasons, but for reasons related to the IRS' mission.
- They targeted dozens of progressive groups as well.
- The number of conservative groups approved far outnumber the number of progressive groups approved. (They were also more numerous to begin with, so it makes sense.)
...Does anyone want to tell me what the scandal is now? I don't get it.
Just like with Benghazi, where you all creamed your jeans hoping for some directive from Obama, or the political arm of the White House, you've been left with a far more boring explanation - this is nothing but the usual bureaucratic DC bullshit that happens every day.
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so, independent investigation or no?
WSS
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No. It doesn't look like they have any cause to call for one. Until they come up with something that suggests wrongdoing, obviously you wouldn't spend money on an investigation.
Which isn't to say that they couldn't come up with something, but I don't see it.
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They've got to investigate the Washington office of the IRS and see if there's any evidence that this was directed out of that office.
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Claiming the fifth, as Ms. Lerner did, is a red flag that something is very wrong.
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WASHINGTON – A misfired email from an Internal Revenue Service employee in Ohio alerted officials in Washington that conservative groups were being targeted a full year earlier than previously acknowledged, Fox News confirms.Transcripts from interviews held with IRS employees in Cincinnati show that managers in Washington knew about the heightened scrutiny put on Tea Party groups applying for tax-exempt status in July 2010.The transcript, which was initially reviewed and reported by Reuters, apparently shows that Cincinnati IRS official Elizabeth Hofacre was in communication with D.C.-based IRS attorney Carter Hull. Hofacre was put in charge of handling tax-exempt status applications from conservative groups by her Cincinnati boss, she claims.According to the report, Hofacre was asked to summarize her initial findings and send it via email to a small group of IRS workers, including a few in the D.C. tax-exempt unit. Mistakenly, she sent the email to everybody in the Washington IRS Exempt Organizations Rulings and Agreements unit.Hofacre’s Cincinnati bureau used a “be-on-the-lookout” (BOLO) list that included the words “Tea Party” and “Patriot” that was used to flag conservative applications for extra scrutiny. Many targeted groups have come forward in the days since the scandal broke and said the IRS held up their applications, asked invasive questions and tried other tactics to slow the approval process.Still, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has said there is no evidence that the screening list was created by high-level IRS officials or the Treasury Department, or was tied to the White House.Separately, at a hearing Monday, the watchdog who exposed the IRS' targeting testified nobody in the Ohio office being blamed for the scandal would tell his investigators who directed the program, as the new IRS chief vowed to "get to the bottom" of that growing question.Lois Lerner, the IRS official who set off the controversy, has said that she first learned of the BOLO list in June 2011, and that she ordered the partisan criteria to be removed immediately.Transcripts with IRS officials, though, have shown them claiming officials in Washington requested the lists.Fox News' Mike Emanuel contributed to this report. -
Benghazi coverup. NSA coverup. IRS coverup. Fast and Furious coverup, AP coverup.
I mean, it was testified before Congress, that Ms. Lerner said that the pro-life group, if the leader
would promise not to picket any more abortion clinics, that the harrassment from the IRS would immediately end....
yeah. Political targeting, and we still need more information. And Ms. Lerner is on paid leave..pleading the fifth....
why? And Holder and Obamao are trying desperately to keep a FISA court judgement that their spying violated
the Constitution.... secret... It's all a mess. This Obamao regime is more Mao than the joke I started back in the day.
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And here's where all these scandals will live on no matter what we learn - in the demented minds of people like Cal. Who still think Benghazi was a "cover-up." Who'll still think the IRS was a White House plot.
You'll be screaming about this stuff all the way to the 2016 election, and the rest of the country will think you've lost it even more than before.
One day, Roger Ailes is going to realize that his big idea ruined the Republican Party.
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before you get too far off topic here in your honest opinion why do you think anyone would plead the fifth in this situation?
WSS
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To protect oneself from self-incrimination, naturally.
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Well that's why I asked for your opinion what do you suppose she might be incriminating herself with? I mean if there's absolutely nothing wrong going on.....
Do you believe she's probably done anything illegal or protecting someone else? Andif so shouldn't someone get to the bottom of it?
WSS
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But that's not what "self-incrimination" means. She might have done nothing wrong. She might have done something illegal. We don't know. Pleading the 5th isn't an admission she's done something wrong.
One should be able to imagine why a person in the national spotlight might not want to have their case and their reputation adjudicated in the press and by Darrell Issa and the House Oversight Committee, no?
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the fifth refers to self incrimination, not refusal to tell the possibly damaging truth about someone you are protecting.
And, heckbunker, you apparently are enraged that I countered your liberal support crap, with stuff
that directly contradicts your crap. See? You will personally attack anyone on this board who sees things differently than you do.
Coward. BTW, you are the one who brought up E. Germany, moron. Oh, THAT's an issue that bothers you, so it's okay to go "batshit crazy".
You've long since become the "dick" of the board, since you keep screwing around with facts and definitions and subjects.
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Besides, again, Ms. Lerner, as testified before Congress, tried to "blackmail" a conservative group leader, ...
saying that if the group would stop/promise not to picket abortion clinics, the harassment by the IRS would immediately go away.
That is probly what the fifth is all about.
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I won't even start a new thread about the Benghazi coverup you deny is happening:
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