Conspiracy became reality In May 2013 when the Director of the IRS Exempt Organizations division Lois Lerner publicly admitted and apologized for the targeting of conservative groups by "flagging" groups with the words like "tea party," or "Patriot" in their names, for addition scrutiny, and in many cases delaying their applications, as well as demanding the names of their donors.
For years, conservative groups were mocked, called paranoid and treated as conspiracy theorists until that apology.
The scandal that followed included Barack Obama claiming their was not a "smidgen of wrongdoing," despite the fact that the House Ways And Means Committee sent out a criminal referral to the Department of Justice, which was dismissed by Obama's DOJ out of hand.
Since then it has been revealed that the total was much higher than the original list identified back in May 2013, which was 298, with the released names of over 400 organizations that were subjected to long delays, while being forced to answer intrusive questions about their donors and activities.
Representative Peter Roskam, revealed on an interview with Fox Business on Thursday morning, that there is "overwhelming" evidence that suggests under Lerner and Obama the IRS "denied people due process and equal protection of the law based on their political ideology," which he states is a felony. Roskam also states Lerner may have lied to the Inspector General of the Treasury Department, who was investigating those very charges.
Roskam states "What we want is a new Justice Department to take a fresh look at this while we are well within the statute of limitations and if the can, to move forward with the prosecution."
On April 9, 2014, the House Committee on Ways and Means voted to send a letter to the Department of Justice referring former IRS Exempt Organizations Division Director Lois G. Lerner for criminal prosecution. As indicated in the attached letter, the Committee’s nearly three-year investigation uncovered evidence of willful misconduct on the part of Ms. Lerner. Despite this fact, and for what many believe were purely partisan reasons, the prior Administration refused to review Ms. Lerner’s misconduct. For the reasons described below, I respectfully request the Department of Justice to take a fresh look at the evidence presented in the attached referral in order to restore taxpayers’ trust in the IRS.
In particular, the Committee found that Ms. Lerner used her position to improperly influence IRS action against conservative organizations, denying these groups due process and equal protection rights under the law. The Committee also found she impeded official investigations by providing misleading statements in response to questions from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. Finally, Lerner risked exposing, and may actually have disclosed, confidential taxpayer information, in apparent violation of Internal Revenue Code section 6103 by using her personal email to conduct official business.
As you know, your predecessor brought no charges against Ms. Lerner or any other IRS employees involved in the improper targeting of organizations applying for tax-exempt status.
Disturbingly, in February 2014, while the investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) was ongoing, President Obama stated there was “not a smidgeon of corruption” at the IRS, preempting a fair investigation in which he had political equities. It is clear that when the DOJ announced in October 2015 that it would not bring charges against Lois Lerner, the agency was following President Obama’s signal on how he wanted the investigation to be handled.
Taxpayers deserve to know that the DOJ’s previous evaluation was not tainted by politics. Again, I respectfully request that the Department of Justice to take a fresh look at the evidence presented in the attached referral in order to assure the American people that DOJ’s prior investigation was handled fairly and to restore taxpayers’ trust in the IRS.
Sincerely, Kevin Brady Chairman
Committee on Ways and Means Peter Roskam Chairman Subcommittee on Tax Policy
According to Investment Watch Blog, Sessions is said to be excited about pushing the "very strong" case forward.
With the recent arrest of Candace Marie Claiborne, an employee of the U.S. Department of State, announced on the Department of Justice website on March 29, 2017, for concealing extensive contacts with foreign intelligence agents, while accepting gifts and bribes for information, and the "full blown" investigations started by Congress into Obama's former National Security Adviser Susan Rice's "unmasking" of names that were part of the Trump campaign, the chickens are coming home to roost, in regards to the potentially illegal activities of the Obama administration and the agencies that became so politicized during his presidency.
To date there has been no direct evidence implicating Barack Obama in the IRS scandal, or the orders to unmask American names, which many believe was done for political purposes, but then again, no actual prosecutions have begun yet, so one has to wonder how many of these recent revelations and investigations will 1) produce active prosecutions and 2) implicate Barack Obama himself if those being prosecuted decide to cut a deal to save themselves.
BOTTOM LINE
It has been less than three months since Obama left office and Congress is actively investigating a number of issues, as is the DOJ, and we have to wonder if the aforementioned investigations are just the tip of the iceberg and how much more is going to be revealed as to what the Obama administration did behind the scenes during his eight year term.
