Wednesday, May 22, 2013

IRS internal investigation ended 6 months before '12 election, was hidden from Congress?


IRS tea-party bloodbath continues in Congress, as evidence emerges that IRS's own internal probe ended in May 2012, six months before election, but was hidden from legislators

Tempers flared in a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing Wednesday, with members on both sides of the aisle castigating the Internal Revenue Service for targeting conservative groups with special scrutiny, and then hiding the practice from Congress.
Rep. Darrel Issa, the committee's chairman, said that the committee learned just yesterday that the IRS completed its own investigation a year before a Treasury Department Inspector General report was completed.
But despite the IRS recognizing in May 2012 that its employees were treating right-wing groups differently from other organizations, Issa said, IRS personnel withheld those conclusions from legislators.
'Just yesterday the committee interviewed Holly Paz, the director of exempt organizations, rulings and agreements, division of the IRS,' Issa said. 'While a tremendous amount of attention is centered about the Inspector General's report, or investigation, the committee has learned from Ms. Paz that she in fact participated in an IRS internal investigation that concluded in May of 2012 - May 3 of 2012 - and found essentially the same thing that Mr. George found more than a year later.'
SCROLL DOWN FOR MULTIPLE VIDEOS
J. Russell George, Douglas Shulman, Lois Lerner and Neal Wolin (left to right) appeared before the House Oversight Committee, but Lerner refused to answer questions
U.S. Treasury Inspector-General for Tax Administration J. Russell George, former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, Director of Exempt Organizations for the Internal Revenue Service Lois Lerner and U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin (left to right) appeared before the House Oversight Committee, but Lerner refused to answer questions
House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa tried to get answers out of Lois Lerner, but she pleaded the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer questions
House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa tried to get answers out of Lois Lerner, but she pleaded the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer questions. Issa slammed the IRS for targeting conservatives, and said his committee would continue to investigate 'until we know that the IRS is fixed'
'Think about it,' he continued: 'For more than a year, the IRS knew that it had inappropriately targeted groups of Americans based on their political beliefs, and without mentioning it, and in fact without honestly answering questions that were the result of this internal investigation.'
Lois Lerner, the Director of Exempt Organizations at the IRS, made a brief opening statement recounting the recent history of the agency's scandal. Her attorney told the committee on Tuesday in a letter that she would refuse to answer questions by invoking her protections under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
'I have not done anything wrong,' she said. 'I have not broken any laws. I have not violated any IRS rules or regulations and I have not provided false information to this or any other committee.'
Lois Lerner asserted her Fifth Amendment privilege while giving an opening statement defending herself, bringing one committee member to claim she could no longer assert it at all
Lois Lerner asserted her Fifth Amendment privilege while giving an opening statement defending herself, bringing one committee member to claim she could no longer assert it at all
Issa dismissed Lerner from the hearing, over objections from other Republicans who insisted that she should be forced to answer questions since she had 'waived her right' to refuse by offering an opening statement.
Issa then kept Lerner in the hearing room, asking her if she would answer any questions at all.
'I will not answer any questions or testify today,' she replied.
Issa then asked if she would answer questions about her previous testimony before Congress.
'i decline to answer that question, for reasons I have already given.'
Lerner was dismissed a second time and left the hearing room with her lawyer, but not before Issa cautioned that she could be recalled and forced to testify in the future if committee attorneys determined that she had forfeited her Fifth Amendment rights by making an opening statement.
It's unclear if Lerner will be forced to testify at a later date. One Republican said she should be required to face cross-examination as though she were in federal court
It's unclear if Lerner will be forced to testify at a later date. One Republican said she should be required to face cross-examination as though she were in federal court
One top Democrat breathed fire, warning that prosecutions could result.
Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch said that if witnesses stonewalled the committee, 'it will lead to a special prosecutor.'
'There will be hell to pay if that’s the route we go down.'
Lynch said the committee had 'to get to the bottom of this.'
Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, linked the tea party scandal with the implementation of President Obama's Affordable Care Act.
'This administration, this agency, the very agency charged with enforcing Obamacare,' Jordan said in an opening statement, 'systematically targeted groups that came into existence because they opposed Obamacare - and they started the targeting the very month, March 2010, that Obamacare came into law - expects us to believe it is the work of ‘two rogue agents.'


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2329067/Congress-hosts-IRS-bloodbath-slamming-tax-authorities-partisan-targeting-conservatives-official-refuses-answer-questions.html#ixzz2U2CfIL4F
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