"Mistakes Were Made"

[boyst]

Absolutely: http://www.huffingto...kusaolp00000592

 

 

(I was actually kidding about Miley, but the girl never fails to deliver!)

dude, shes just being Miley!

[B-Man]

JOSEPH CURL: Obama Tells A Whopper On IRS Scandal.

Fact: The IRS targeted conservative and tea party groups requesting tax-exempt status in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election. That’s a fact.

 

Congress held hearings — embarrassing hearings. Three top Internal Revenue Service officials resigned. No heads rolled, but for the Obama administration, and the lawless Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., that amounted to a major scandal. Even White House spokesman Jay “Circus” Carney called the IRS’s actions “inappropriate.” Fact.

 

But President Obama, in an interview last week with sycophant Chris Matthews, now says the entire scandal was made up by the media.

 

“

When we do things right, they don’t get a lot of attention

,” the president said, no doubt sending a thrill up the MSNBC host’s leg.

“If we do something that is perceived at least initially as a screwup, it will be on the nightly news for a week

.”

 

Like, say, deploying the nation’s tax watchdog to target political opponents? Just a “screw up.” . . . Although the president is busy trying to change the subject, this time to income inequality, the IRS story just won’t disappear. Last week, Rep. Darrell E. Issa, chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, had simply had enough. He called out the IRS’s chief counsel, William Wilkins, for saying “I don’t recall” a staggering 80 times during his congressional testimony last month.

 

“Your memory consistently failed when you were asked about information you shared with the Treasury Department,” the lawmaker wrote. “Your failure to recollect important aspects of the Committee’s investigation suggests either a deliberate attempt to obfuscate your involvement in this matter or gross incompetence on your part.”

 

Funny, the Obama administration, in Year 5, is totally fine with “gross incompetence.” Many warned that these guys weren’t ready for prime time. They said they were.

 

 

The only “screw up” was getting caught.

 

 

.

[OCinBuffalo]

[B-Man]

501©(4) Proposed Regulations—An Unsafe Harbor

 

 

 

Obama IRS Tightening the Noose on Tea Party Groups

 

 

 

.

[IDBillzFan]

Most transparent WH ever. Interesting that the Hill, which as been working overtime to make Netanyahu cancel is speech next month, is the one getting the middle finger from the WH. Let's see if they drop all the Netanyahu stories now.

 

The Obama administration is refusing to publicly release more than 500 documents on the IRS’s targeting of Tea Party groups.

Twenty months after the IRS scandal broke, there are still many unanswered questions about who was spearheading the agency’s scrutiny of conservative-leaning organizations.

The Hill sought access to government documents that might provide a glimpse of the decision-making through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

The Hill asked for 2013 emails and other correspondence between the IRS and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). The request specifically sought emails from former IRS official Lois Lerner and Treasury officials, including Secretary Jack Lew, while the inspector general was working on its explosive May 2013 report that the IRS used “inappropriate criteria” to review the political activities of tax-exempt groups.

TIGTA opted not to release any of the 512 documents covered by the request, citing various exemptions in the law. The Hill recently appealed the FOIA decision, but TIGTA denied the appeal. TIGTA also declined to comment for this article.

 

 

[B-Man]

GOVERNMENT AGENCY OR CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY?

 

New emails show IRS delayed witness interview in criminal probe.

 

Lawyers for the Internal Revenue Service attempted to stall a criminal investigation by waiting nearly a month before giving an agency employee permission to meet with investigators, despite the employee’s willingness to testify, emails showed.

 

The emails, obtained by Judicial Watch

through a Freedom of Information Act request

, revealed frustration with IRS lawyers over their reluctance to approve a meeting between federal prosecutors and an unnamed tax agency employee who was prepared to give investigators information.

 

“

We find it amazing that they didn’t immediately respond giving us the green light to meet with you,” the IRS employee’s attorney, whose name was redacted, wrote of the IRS counsel in a June 12, 2013 email to Justice Department officials.

 

 

 

Yeah, I don’t.

 

 

 

 

 

.

Edited February 10, 2015 by B-Man

[B-Man]

IRS watchdog reveals Lois Lerner missing emails now subject of criminal probe

Washington Times, by Stephen Dinan

 

Original Article

 

The IRS’s inspector general confirmed Thursday it is conducting a criminal investigation into how Lois G. Lerner’s emails disappeared, saying it took only two weeks for investigators to find hundreds of tapes the agency’s chief had told Congress were irretrievably destroyed. Investigators have already scoured 744 backup tapes and gleaned 32,774 unique emails, but just two weeks ago they found an additional 424 tapes that could contain even more Lerner emails,

 

Deputy Inspector General Timothy P. Camus told the House Oversight Committee in a rare late-night hearing meant to look into the status of the investigation.

 

More at the link:

 

 

 

.

[Nanker]

Fugghettaboudit. Nothing to see here. Oh look! Over there! Bibi is coming to town! Are you ready for March Madness? When's the Draft? Spring Training's started. It's cold all over - brought to you by Global Warming.

[B-Man]

Anyone surprised ?...........anyone?

 

Attorney General Loretta Lynch: Lois Lerner Protected by DOJ’s ‘Prosecutorial Discretion’

Justice Department officials used “prosecutorial discretion” to shelter former IRS official Lois Lerner from a grand jury after she was held in contempt of Congress.

“I believe that in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion, the matter was handled and was resolved,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch told the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday morning. (Today)

The administration’s invocation of prosecutorial discretion has become familiar to lawmakers through the debate over President Obama’s recent series of executive orders on immigration, and it frustrates Republicans. Lynch’s answer particularly annoyed Representative Darrell Issa (R., Calif.), who led much of the investigation into the IRS’s Tea Party targeting scandal when he was chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Lynch conceded that she had not read the congressional reports finding that Lerner had “abused” conservative groups, but emphasized that Lerner’s failures were bureaucratic errors rather than potential crimes. “Our review found that the management of the process by which tax-exempt applications were handled at the IRS was characterized by mismanagement and inefficiency in numerous circumstances,” she said.

Issa read Lynch the federal statute governing congressional contempt citations, which says that it “shall be [the U.S. attorney’s duty] to bring the matter before the grand jury,” https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/2/194, but Lynch stuck by her position. “In the exercise of prosecutorial discretion, that decision was made,” she said.

“You have no respect for laws passed if you don’t like them,” Issa replied. “You think you have discretion when something says ‘shall,’ is what you’re testifying to, today.”

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/427201/loretta-lynch-lois-lerner-protected-prosecutorial-discretion

[B-Man]

IRS Erases Hard Drive Despite Court Order

 

The IRS erased a hard drive belonging to a former top employee involved in the agency’s controversial, taxpayer-funded hiring of elite trial law firm Quinn Emanuel.

 

Although there was a court preservation order on all documents related to the IRS hiring of the outside firm, the hard drive was erased anyway. The order was borne of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request submitted by Microsoft.

 

Even though the white shoe law firm has zero experience handling sensitive tax data, taxpayers have been footing bills of over $1,000 per hour for its services.

 

As reported by legal news service Law360:

 

The IRS informed the U.S. Department of Justice last month that it did not wipe the hard drive until April of last year, after the hold was in place, according to a Friday filing by the U.S. Department of Justice in a Washington federal court. The hard drive belonged to Samuel Maruca, former director of transfer pricing operations at the IRS Large Business and International Division.

IRS attorneys “have continued to study whether or how the foregoing might implicate the Service’s obligation to conduct a reasonable search in response to Microsoft’s FOIA requests,” the statement said.

 

 

The deleted hard drive belonged to the agency’s former director of transfer pricing operations at the IRS Large Business and International Division, likely a key employee involved in the controversy. It is not known if there is any way to recover documents belonging to the employee.

 

Despite its complete inexperience handling audits or taxpayer data, Quinn Emanuel was hired under an initial $2.2 million contract.

Read more: http://www.atr.org/irs-erases-hard-drive-despite-court-order#ixzz3xnmDnXW2

 

 

Not a smidgeon of corruption.................

 

 

.

Edited January 20, 2016 by B-Man

[DC Tom]

Despite its complete inexperience handling audits or taxpayer data, Quinn Emanuel was hired under an initial $2.2 million contract.

Read more: http://www.atr.org/irs-erases-hard-drive-despite-court-order#ixzz3xnmDnXW2

 

To be fair, that's probably less "corruption" than it is "lowest bidder."

 

And "inexperience handling taxpayer data" isn't that big a deal. It's common sense: don't publish it, don't erase it, lock it up when not in use. Sadly, common sense isn't common.

[keepthefaith]

Obama will easily runout the clock on this one.

[B-Man]

 

To be fair, that's probably less "corruption" than it is "lowest bidder."

 

And "inexperience handling taxpayer data" isn't that big a deal. It's common sense: don't publish it, don't erase it, lock it up when not in use. Sadly, common sense isn't common.

 

 

That's probably true sir, and Senator Hatch should have saved himself the bother of an investigation.

 

However, my point in posting was the separate issue of the IRS (again) deleting a hard drive they were ordered not to.

 

 

.

[B-Man]

Obama will easily runout the clock on this one.

 

 

Maybe not.

 

 

The IRS Scandal, Day 1283: IRS Handed Defeat in Court Ruling Against Tea Party Group It Stiffed.

[Nanker]

This is one area that I'm looking forward to the new administration's handling of this scandal.

IMO it needs to be investigated right away by an Independent Prosecutor.

Let's get to the bottom of it, hold people's feet to the fire for the truth and let the chips fall where they may.

Hopefully Lois Lerner get put into the wood chipper, but maybe not. But let's find out.

[Buffalo_Gal]

True the Vote Wins Battle Against IRS as Judge Orders Tax Agency to Pay Legal Fees in Decade-Long Fight
 

True the Vote, a nonpartisan conservative election integrity group that fought a nearly decade-long battle with the IRS and other federal agencies that unfairly targeted the group, has won a major decision in federal court and shall be awarded maximum attorney fees.
 

“This is a huge victory for every American who thinks that they can’t go up against the government and get what they deserve,” Catherine Engelbrecht, True the Vote’s founder, told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview ahead of the group’s public announcement of the victory. “This is an opportunity to make very clear that we didn’t back away and, therefore, American citizens didn’t back away—and we won.”
 

</snip>
 

U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton ruled in favor of True the Vote in the case, and penalized the IRS for forcing the tax agency to pay maximum attorney’s fees due to the IRS’s discrimination against the conservative organization that stemmed from the Lois Lerner scandal during the Barack Obama administration all the way back in 2010. In addition to signing a 2018 consent order that included an IRS admission of wrongdoing, Judge Walton ruled last week that True the Vote was entitled to a “bad faith enhancement” to its requested attorney’s fees. In his opinion, Judge Walton wrote that there is “clear and convincing evidence necessary for a finding of bad faith on the part of” the IRS. As such, while the exact amount is still being worked out, True the Vote has requested the recovery of $1.9 million in attorney’s fees from the decades-long court battle.
 

</snip>

Edited June 7, 2019 by Buffalo_Gal

[3rdnlng]

2 hours ago, Buffalo_Gal said:

True the Vote Wins Battle Against IRS as Judge Orders Tax Agency to Pay Legal Fees in Decade-Long Fight
 

True the Vote, a nonpartisan conservative election integrity group that fought a nearly decade-long battle with the IRS and other federal agencies that unfairly targeted the group, has won a major decision in federal court and shall be awarded maximum attorney fees.
 

“This is a huge victory for every American who thinks that they can’t go up against the government and get what they deserve,” Catherine Engelbrecht, True the Vote’s founder, told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview ahead of the group’s public announcement of the victory. “This is an opportunity to make very clear that we didn’t back away and, therefore, American citizens didn’t back away—and we won.”
 

</snip>
 

U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton ruled in favor of True the Vote in the case, and penalized the IRS for forcing the tax agency to pay maximum attorney’s fees due to the IRS’s discrimination against the conservative organization that stemmed from the Lois Lerner scandal during the Barack Obama administration all the way back in 2010. In addition to signing a 2018 consent order that included an IRS admission of wrongdoing, Judge Walton ruled last week that True the Vote was entitled to a “bad faith enhancement” to its requested attorney’s fees. In his opinion, Judge Walton wrote that there is “clear and convincing evidence necessary for a finding of bad faith on the part of” the IRS. As such, while the exact amount is still being worked out, True the Vote has requested the recovery of $1.9 million in attorney’s fees from the decades-long court battle.
 

</snip>

I'm all for the ruling, but it is bittersweet. Taxpayers are the ones making the payment while it appears there is no penalty for the actual IRS perpetrators.

[Koko78]

6 hours ago, Buffalo_Gal said:

True the Vote Wins Battle Against IRS as Judge Orders Tax Agency to Pay Legal Fees in Decade-Long Fight
 

True the Vote, a nonpartisan conservative election integrity group that fought a nearly decade-long battle with the IRS and other federal agencies that unfairly targeted the group, has won a major decision in federal court and shall be awarded maximum attorney fees.
 

“This is a huge victory for every American who thinks that they can’t go up against the government and get what they deserve,” Catherine Engelbrecht, True the Vote’s founder, told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview ahead of the group’s public announcement of the victory. “This is an opportunity to make very clear that we didn’t back away and, therefore, American citizens didn’t back away—and we won.”
 

</snip>
 

U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton ruled in favor of True the Vote in the case, and penalized the IRS for forcing the tax agency to pay maximum attorney’s fees due to the IRS’s discrimination against the conservative organization that stemmed from the Lois Lerner scandal during the Barack Obama administration all the way back in 2010. In addition to signing a 2018 consent order that included an IRS admission of wrongdoing, Judge Walton ruled last week that True the Vote was entitled to a “bad faith enhancement” to its requested attorney’s fees. In his opinion, Judge Walton wrote that there is “clear and convincing evidence necessary for a finding of bad faith on the part of” the IRS. As such, while the exact amount is still being worked out, True the Vote has requested the recovery of $1.9 million in attorney’s fees from the decades-long court battle.
 

</snip>

 

A scandal during Obama's administration? I don't believe that ever happened. The man stated that his administration was scandal-free.

 

Obama has never lied, he even admitted to chopping down that Cherry Tree, after he walked on water, cured blindness/leprosy, and polished his halo.

[row_33]

37 minutes ago, Koko78 said:

 

A scandal during Obama's administration? I don't believe that ever happened. The man stated that his administration was scandal-free.

 

Obama has never lied, he even admitted to chopping down that Cherry Tree, after he walked on water, cured blindness/leprosy, and polished his halo.

 

empty suit leaning with all 4 limbs on his teleprompter

 

[B-Man]

Mistakes WERE made......................on purpose.

 

 

 

CHANGE: ‘True the Vote’ Wins Big Case After Decade-Long Battle with IRS. 

 

“This remarkable new ruling by US District Court Judge Reggie Walton was in favor of True the Vote, penalizing the IRS with extensive attorneys fees. The ruling indicates that, throughout the case, the IRS displayed unconstitutional discrimination and unethical behavior against True the Vote, a group that fights for election integrity. The judge’s decision marks the end of a nearly decade long battle that first began in 2010.”

 

The way the Obama Administration weaponized the federal bureaucracy against its political opponents is more reminiscent of a criminal gang than the “rule of law” that Trump opponents keep talking about.

 

 

 

 

.