Showing posts with label IRS Scandal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IRS Scandal. Show all posts

Saturday, July 4, 2015

Just a spontaneous eruption of destruction?!?

July 04, 2015 ABC , IRS Scandal 0 Comments
Report: No Evidence IRS Employees Told To Destroy Info 

By WMDT 47/ABC, Jul. 3, 2015

WASHINGTON - (AP) - An internal government report has found no evidence that IRS employees were told to destroy or hide information from Congress or the Justice Department.

The report by the IRS Inspector General comes days after investigators testified on Capitol Hill that two IRS workers at a West Virginia computer center erased thousands of emails related to the tax agency's tea party scandal. The investigators said they found no criminal conspiracy.

More: www.wmdt.com

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Thursday, July 2, 2015

Somebody should be in jail!!

July 02, 2015 Chad Pergram , Fox News 0 Comments
IRS Watchdog: IT Boss ‘Blown Away’ That IRS Backup Tapes In Lerner Case Erased

By Chad Pergram, Jun. 2, 2015, Fox News

The chief technology officer at the IRS was "blown away" after learning backup tapes that likely contained messages to and from controversial ex-official Lois Lerner were destroyed, according to an internal government watchdog report.

The 1,600-page report, prepared by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, examined the agency's handling of Lerner's missing emails and apparent computer crash. Lerner is the former official at the heart of the scandal over IRS targeting of Tea Party and other conservative groups, but lawmakers were told last year that some of her electronic communications had been lost.

The effort to recover those files has seemingly been marked by a string of blunders. Inspector General J. Russell George first told lawmakers last week that 422 backup tapes were "magnetically erased" around March 4, 2014, meaning thousands of emails might never be recovered.


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Thursday, June 11, 2015

Remember Her?

June 11, 2015 IRS Scandal , Katie Pavlich 0 Comments
Federal Judge: What's The Status On Lois Lerner's "Lost" Emails? 

By Katie Pavlich, Jun. 10, 2015, Townhall

Remember when the IRS claimed they "lost" tens-of-thousands of emails belonging to former head of tax exempt groups Lois Lerner? (Who by the way, is retired now with a full taxpayer funded pension after raking in hundreds-of-thousands of dollars in bonuses). Remember when IRS Commissioner John Koskinen claimed there were no back up tapes? Lerner's emails aren't lost and backup tapes do exist. Now, it's important to find out what's in both.

Last week, as part of a lawsuit issued against the IRS by Judicial Watch, Federal Judge Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered the IRS to give an update on the status of those "lost" emails and tapes. 

Judicial Watch announced that Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted a Judicial Watch request to issue an order requiring the IRS to provide answers by June 12, 2015, on the status of the Lois Lerner emails the IRS had previously declared lost. Judicial Watch raised questions about the IRS’ handling of the missing emails issue in a court filing on June 2, 2015, demanding answers about Lois Lerner’s emails, which had been recovered from backup tapes. Judge Sullivan issued the court order on June 4, 2015.


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Sunday, May 31, 2015

STILL In Legal Jeopardy?

May 31, 2015 Charles S. Clark , GovExec.com 0 Comments
House Republicans Demand Update On Lois Lerner Charges 

By Charles S. Clark, May 29, GovExec.com

Twenty-four Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday wrote to newly installed Attorney General Loretta Lynch seeking an update on prospects for criminal charges against former Internal Revenue Service Exempt Organizations chief Lois Lerner.

Led by Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the lawmakers cited the April 9, 2014, Ways and Means referral of Lerner to the Justice Department for prosecution on possible crimes that grew out of the two-year-old controversy over alleged political bias in IRS handling of nonprofits’ applications for tax-exempt status.

The new letter noted that an April 2015 Justice response from since-departed U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen sent to Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, addressed only the contempt of Congress referral the House made after Lerner invoked her Fifth Amendment right to remain silent before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Read the full story: www..govexec.com

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Monday, May 18, 2015

Let's Re-cap!

May 18, 2015 IRS Scandal , Lois Lerner 0 Comments
The 5 Biggest Lies, Myths, And Debunked Claims Of The IRS Scandal 

By Luke Wachob, May 18, 2015, TheFederalist.com

Remember the Lois Lerner emails the Internal Revenue Service said were lost? Thousands of them were just uncovered, and according to one investigator, they were “right where you would expect them to be.” It was just the latest iteration of a recurring trend in the IRS targeting scandal: investigators debunking attempts by the agency and its apologists to excuse, downplay, or cover up IRS’s abuse of conservative and tea-party groups.

Two years after it was first publicly exposed, here are the five biggest lies, myths, and debunked claims about the IRS scandal.

1. There Is ‘Absolutely No Targeting’ Program

Amid media reports in 2012 that the IRS was investigating dozens of tea-party organizations and demanding to know their political beliefs, twelve Republican senators sent a letter to IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman expressing concern with “excessive” IRS inquiries and seeking assurance that groups of all leanings received fair treatment. One week later, Shulman promised Congress, “There’s absolutely no targeting.”

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration exploded this claim in May of 2013 with a report titled, “Inappropriate Criteria Were Used to Identify Tax-Exempt Applications for Review.” The report concluded that the IRS chose groups for review “based upon their names or policy positions instead of indications of potential political campaign intervention.” It also determined that targeting began as early as March 2010, more than two years before Shulman insisted to Congress that no such program existed.

Read the full story:  www.thefederalist.com

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Sunday, May 17, 2015

We're waaaaaaiiiittttiinngggg!!!

May 17, 2015 Democrats , Fox News 0 Comments
GOP has waited two years for info on IRS correspondence with Dem senators 

By Fox News, May 17, 2015

Washington Republicans said this week that their requests to the IRS for correspondences between the agency and congressional Democrats remain unfulfilled after two years, raising questions about whether the Obama administration is trying to withhold information for a third-straight election cycle.

“Instead of holding the IRS accountable, Democrats are trying to cover-up their involvement in the IRS targeting scandal,” National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Andrea Bozek said Friday.

The group, which focuses on getting Republicans elected and reelected to the Senate, provided documents earlier this week showing 10 letters in which the IRS has asked for more time to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests since May 21, 2013.

"On January 14, 2015, I asked for more time to obtain the records you requested,” IRS tax law specialist Denise Higley wrote NRSC lawyer Megan Sowards on April 29. “I am still working on your request and need additional time.”

Higley also said she would contact the NRSC by July 6 if she needs more time.

Read the full story: www.foxnews.com

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Wednesday, April 29, 2015

What's In Those Letters?

April 29, 2015 Chris Frates , CNN 0 Comments
CNN: IRS Watchdog Finds 6400 Missing Lois Lerner Email

By Chris Frates, Apr. 28, 2015, CNN

Washington (CNN)The IRS watchdog investigating the disappearance of Lois Lerner's emailstold a Senate committee it has found roughly 6,400 messages that have never before been turned over to Congress.

Lerner was the IRS official at the center of allegations that the agency targeted tea party groups applying for nonprofit status. Congress requested Lerner's emails from the IRS and agency officials told lawmakers an unknown number of emails had been lost when Lerner's computer crashed.

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration is in the process of turning the emails over to the Senate Finance Committee, which is investigating whether the IRS wrongly targeted conservative and other groups seeking tax-exempt status, committee spokesman Aaron Fobes said.

"These emails will be carefully examined as part of the committee's bipartisan IRS investigation," he said.

Read the full story:  www.cnn.com

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Thursday, April 23, 2015

Were They Tea Party Taxpayers?

April 23, 2015 Associated Press , House Ways and Means Committee 0 Comments
IRS' Overloaded Phone System Hung Up On Over 8M Taxpayers

By Associated Press, Apr. 22, 2015, NYPost.com

WASHINGTON — The IRS’ overloaded phone system hung up on more than 8 million taxpayers this filing season as the agency cut millions of dollars from taxpayer services.

For those who weren’t disconnected, only 40 percent actually got through to a person. Many of those people had to wait on hold for more than 30 minutes.

A new staff report by Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee says the IRS diverted millions from taxpayer services and other areas to pay for President Barack Obama’s health law.

Read the full story:  www.nypost.com

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Saturday, April 4, 2015

Presto chango!

April 04, 2015 Hans A. von Spakovsky , House Oversight and Government Reform Committee 0 Comments
Making The Lois Lerner Problem Disappear

By Hans A. Von Spakovsky, Apr. 3, 2015

On March 31, Ronald Machen, the outgoing U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, wrote Speaker John Boehner to inform him that the Justice Department would not present Lois Lerner’s contempt citation to a federal grand jury. The letter explaining his decision is an exercise in misdirection — the kind of misdirection that magicians use to fool an audience. 

Why? Because at no point in his detailed, seven-page legal analysis does Machen mention the most important point demonstrating that Lois Lerner did, in fact, waive her Fifth Amendment right. Lois Lerner made two abbreviated appearances before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee — one on May 22, 2013, the other on March 5, 2014.

Read more at:  www.nationalreview.com

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Monday, March 16, 2015

We'll Never Get Full Story

March 16, 2015 Forbes , Hillary Clinton Email Scandal 0 Comments
Al Sharpton, Hillary Clinton, Lois Lerner Share Recordkeeping Tips 

By Robert W. Wood, Mar. 16, 2015, Forbes.com

We may never get the full story of Hillary Clinton’s emails, or Lois Lerner’s for that matter. Both were savvy enough to be selective. One can add Al Sharpton to the clever trio, although his contribution to the game may be more old-fashioned: fires that destroy tax records. In his own low tech way, Rev. Sharpton has managed to keep tax problems under raps that would be catastrophic for mere mortals.

As Americans look for receipts and pour over their records, some may be struck by the odd serendipity. Maybe we all will learn that no one in government knows how to use email except Hillary Clinton. Even before we knew that Mrs. Clinton never used the State Department email system, President Obama was adamant that there was no smidgen of corruption at the IRS. Employees were confused. Cincinnati went rogue. Etc.

Read the full story:  www.forbes.com

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Sunday, March 1, 2015

She Has A Lot To Take The 5th About

March 01, 2015 Examiner.com , House Oversight Committee 0 Comments
Lois Lerner 'Missing' Email Tapes Found, Criminal Probe Ensues At The IRS

By Mark Whittington, Feb. 28, 2015, Examiner.com

The IRS Inspector General’s office admitted to the House Oversight Committee that backup tapes of Lois Lerner’s emails that IRS Commissioner John Koskinen had said were irretrievably lost have been found, according to a Thursday story in the Washington Times. Indeed it took only 15 days of work to track them down in a backup facility, The IRS Deputy IG has told Congress that a criminal investigation is under way into a possible cover-up.

The revelation has caused radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh to rhetorically roll his eyes. Limbaugh mentioned that the IRS is still refusing to hand over the tapes under the flimsy excuse that they were written under an old operating system and were thus unreadable using the current operating system that the tax agency uses. And thus the stonewalling and cover-up continues.

Read the full story:  www.examiner.com

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Saturday, February 28, 2015

Who Will NEXT Take The Fifth?

February 28, 2015 Congressman Jim Jordan , IRS Scandal 0 Comments
IRS Being Investigated For Criminal Misconduct Surrounding Lois Lerner's 'Missing' Emails

By Katie Pavlich, Feb. 27, 2015, Townhall.com

Last night Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration Russell George and Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Timothy Camus updated the House Oversight Committee on the status of Lois Lerner's "missing" emails surrounding the IRS targeting of conservatives.

In an exchange with Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH), Camus revealed there is "potential criminal activity" involved in the disappearance and hiding of emails belonging to IRS officials involved in the targeting of conservatives between 2010 and 2012.

“There is potential criminal activity," Camus said. 

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Friday, February 27, 2015

Well, lookey here!

February 27, 2015 IRS Scandal , Lois G. Lerner 0 Comments
Investigators Find 32,000 Emails In IRS Probe

Lois Lerner
By Stephen Olemacher, Feb. 26, 2015, News.Yahoo.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Investigators said Thursday they have recovered 32,000 emails related to a former IRS official at the heart of the agency's tea party scandal.

But they don't know how many of them are new.

The emails were to and from Lois Lerner, who used to head the IRS division that processes applications for tax-exempt status. Last June, the IRS told Congress it had lost an unknown number of Lerner's emails when her computer hard drive crashed in 2011.

At the time, IRS officials said the emails could not be recovered. But at a congressional hearing Thursday evening, investigators said they recovered thousands of emails from old computer tapes used to back up the agency's email system.

Read the full story:  www.news.yahoo.com

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Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Budget cuts at IRS

February 25, 2015 Dailyfinance.com , IRS Scandal 0 Comments
RS: Your Chances Of Getting Audited Lowest In A Decade

By Stephen Olemacher, Feb. 24, 2015, DailyFinance.com

WASHINGTON -- Budget cuts forced the IRS to reduce the number of tax audits last year to the lowest level in a decade, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said Tuesday. And the number of audits could be even lower this year.

"The math is pretty simple," Koskinen said in a speech to the New York State Bar Association. "There are fewer audits because we have fewer auditors."

"Audits fell in virtually every individual category and across income levels," Koskinen said. "This continues a long-term trend that carries serious implications for our tax system and the nation."

Koskinen's speech comes in the middle of tax season, just as millions of Americans are filing their annual returns.

Last year, the IRS audited 1.2 million individual tax returns. That's less than 1 percent of the returns that were filed, the lowest rate since 2004.

Read the full story:  www.dailyfinance.com

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Sunday, November 30, 2014

There MUST have been a good reason?!

November 30, 2014 Cheryl K. Chumley , IRS 0 Comments
IRS Accused Of Sharing 2,500 Private Taxpayer Documents With White House

Cheryl K. Chumley, Nov. 28, 2014, Washington Times

“[T]he Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration informed Cause of Action that there exist nearly 2,500 potentially confidential documents relating to investigations of improper disclosures of confidential taxpayer information by the IRS to the White House,” Cause of Action told The Daily Caller.

The Justice Department has requested more time to review the documents before making them public, Newsmax said.

Read more: www.washingtontimes.com


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Thursday, November 13, 2014

No bias here!

November 13, 2014 Barack Obama , Brent Bozell 0 Comments
MRC's Brent Bozell Schools CNN Host On Utter Lack Of Obama Scandal News 

NB Staff, Nov. 9, 2014, Newsbusters

Media Research Center president Brent Bozell appeared on CNN’s Reliable Sources on Sunday to discuss liberal tilt in midterm election coverage (the first tilt being the lack of coverage on ABC, CBS, and NBC as Democrats looked like they were in trouble in the polls). 

CNN host Brian Stelter tried to suggest Bozell and President Obama could agree that there is a bias, since Obama thinks there is a bias toward covering conflict.

Read more: www.newsbusters.org

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Tuesday, November 4, 2014

New Hampshire game changer?!

November 04, 2014 Daily Caller , IRS 0 Comments
BOMBSHELL MEMO: Jeanne Shaheen Conspired With WH Insider On IRS Targeting Scandal

Patrick Howley, Nov. 3, 2014, Daily Caller

Democratic New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen was principally involved in a plot with Lois Lerner and President Barack Obama’s political appointee at the IRS to lead a program of harassment against conservative nonprofit groups during the 2012 election, according to letters exclusively obtained by The Daily Caller.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) did not want to publicly release 2012 correspondences exchanged between the IRS and Jeanne Shaheen at her personal Washington office: the agency delayed releasing the information to a major conservative super PAC multiple times, even threatening to see the super PAC in court, according to emails.

Read more: www.dailycaller.com



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Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Forgotten already?

October 29, 2014 Bernie Becker , IRS 0 Comments
GOP Offers Refresher On IRS Controversy
Bernie Becker, Oct. 27, 2014, TheHill.com

The House GOP video traces the IRS’s treatment of Tea Party groups back to 2010, when President Obama criticized the Supreme Court’sCitizens United decision, to the agency’s acknowledgement more than four months ago that it couldn’t find all of former IRS official Lois Lerner’s emails. The video also criticizes the IRS’s efforts to craft new regulations governing the 501(c)(4) groups involved in the controversy.

Read more: www.thehill.com

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Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Challenge your younger colleagues to do it!!

October 28, 2014 Bob Woodward , CNS News 0 Comments
Watergate's Woodward: If I Were Young, I’d Investigate The IRS

Bob Woodward
Susan Jones, Oct. 27, 2014, CNSnews.com

Long after he investigated the Watergate scandal, Bob Woodward says "more reporting" is needed on other issues of the day, including the IRS scandal:

"More reporting is always the solution," Woodward told Fox News's Howard Kurtz in an interview that aired on Sunday.

"I think there is a great lesson in all of this for older reporters, like you and myself, and for younger reporters. The facts, you know, who are the witnesses? How do they know this? Do they have an axe to grind? 

 Read more: www.cnsnews.com



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Monday, October 6, 2014

Low level staffer in Cincinnati?

October 06, 2014 Fred Lucas , IRS Scandal 0 Comments
Multi-Mil Tax Suit Claims IRS ‘Wiped Clean’ Email Evidence In Separate Case

By Fred Lucas, Oct. 2, 2014, Theblaze.com

An Ohio-based private jet company entangled in a multi-million dollar lawsuit with the Internal Revenue Service filed a motion this week asserting the tax agency is missing emails from three separate employees that would be evidence in the case, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

The court motion and the federal case are unrelated to the IRS targeting scandal. Nevertheless, it comes after extensive congressional inquiries in Washington over missing emails from Lois Lerner, the former head of IRS tax-exempt organizations unit, who last year admitted to giving extra scrutiny to conservative groups applying for exempt status.

The IRS said the subpoenaed Lerner emails were destroyed in a hard drive crash. The agency later admitted that other emails related to the targeting were missing.

The jet company, NetJets, asserts that the IRS “wiped clean a number of computer hard drives containing emails and other electronic documents that the government was required to produce,” according to the motion filed with U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargus Jr., the Dispatch reported.

The motion further says that three IRS employees erased the computer of “an excise-tax policy manager and a key decision maker regarding the application of the section 4261 ticket tax to whole and fractional aircraft-management companies.”

Read the full story:  www.theblaze.com

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