IRS Apologizes For Targeting Conservative Political Groups In 2012 Ele (1 Viewer)

[Fennis]

I didn't vote for Obama in 2012

 

[Hang 10]

It's amazing how all this crazy stuff keeps happening under Obama's watch and he has no clue and no responsibility on any of it....

You really want the white house, the president involved in the every day operations of the IRS? In any of the operations of the IRS? Should he have automatically had no faith in the Bush appointee in charge? Should he have automatically assumed that the Bush appointee was lying to Congress and the White House?

What should the administration have done sooner?

I'm not arguing that you cannot come up with good answers to that last question. I simply cannot think of a good answer in the context of my answers to the first three "loaded" questions.

The best I can come up with is that it took 3 months give or take from the end of investigation to the releasing of the report.

For starters, not use the illegal information they received in their campaign.

what illegal information are you referencing?

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/05/14/Obama-campaign-co-chair-attacked-Romney-conservative-group-in-2012-with-leaked-IRS-scandal-documents

Illegally obtained, rather.

honestly, that's a bunch of nothing and looks some tangential issue, with probably no validity. Just my first read I could be wrong. I guess we will see how that court case plays out.

This is just one instance. Really, though...would it surprise you? It's already a fact that they targeted one side here. Is it a stretch at all if they were caught helping the other side?

Very little that happens in Washington surprises me. It would surprise me if the IRS had a culture that allowed leaks of information to political campaigns. Is it possible it happens by some individual? Maybe. Is it wide spread, I would doubt it.

But then again I would doubt the core issues of what happened with the IRS would happen. It is a very serious issue.

The head of the IRS just got busted lying directly to congress about what he knew. It's obviously more than just some individual.

 

[Fennis]

It's amazing how all this crazy stuff keeps happening under Obama's watch and he has no clue and no responsibility on any of it....

You really want the white house, the president involved in the every day operations of the IRS? In any of the operations of the IRS? Should he have automatically had no faith in the Bush appointee in charge? Should he have automatically assumed that the Bush appointee was lying to Congress and the White House?

What should the administration have done sooner?

I'm not arguing that you cannot come up with good answers to that last question. I simply cannot think of a good answer in the context of my answers to the first three "loaded" questions.

The best I can come up with is that it took 3 months give or take from the end of investigation to the releasing of the report.

For starters, not use the illegal information they received in their campaign.

what illegal information are you referencing?

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/05/14/Obama-campaign-co-chair-attacked-Romney-conservative-group-in-2012-with-leaked-IRS-scandal-documents

Illegally obtained, rather.

honestly, that's a bunch of nothing and looks some tangential issue, with probably no validity. Just my first read I could be wrong. I guess we will see how that court case plays out.

This is just one instance. Really, though...would it surprise you? It's already a fact that they targeted one side here. Is it a stretch at all if they were caught helping the other side?

Very little that happens in Washington surprises me. It would surprise me if the IRS had a culture that allowed leaks of information to political campaigns. Is it possible it happens by some individual? Maybe. Is it wide spread, I would doubt it.

But then again I would doubt the core issues of what happened with the IRS would happen. It is a very serious issue.

The head of the IRS just got busted lying directly to congress about what he knew. It's obviously more than just some individual.

Not quite.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57584497/the-irs-targeting-controversy-a-timeline/

 

[Hang 10]

It's amazing how all this crazy stuff keeps happening under Obama's watch and he has no clue and no responsibility on any of it....

You really want the white house, the president involved in the every day operations of the IRS? In any of the operations of the IRS? Should he have automatically had no faith in the Bush appointee in charge? Should he have automatically assumed that the Bush appointee was lying to Congress and the White House?

What should the administration have done sooner?

I'm not arguing that you cannot come up with good answers to that last question. I simply cannot think of a good answer in the context of my answers to the first three "loaded" questions.

The best I can come up with is that it took 3 months give or take from the end of investigation to the releasing of the report.

For starters, not use the illegal information they received in their campaign.

what illegal information are you referencing?

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/05/14/Obama-campaign-co-chair-attacked-Romney-conservative-group-in-2012-with-leaked-IRS-scandal-documents

Illegally obtained, rather.

honestly, that's a bunch of nothing and looks some tangential issue, with probably no validity. Just my first read I could be wrong. I guess we will see how that court case plays out.

This is just one instance. Really, though...would it surprise you? It's already a fact that they targeted one side here. Is it a stretch at all if they were caught helping the other side?

Very little that happens in Washington surprises me. It would surprise me if the IRS had a culture that allowed leaks of information to political campaigns. Is it possible it happens by some individual? Maybe. Is it wide spread, I would doubt it.

But then again I would doubt the core issues of what happened with the IRS would happen. It is a very serious issue.

The head of the IRS just got busted lying directly to congress about what he knew. It's obviously more than just some individual.

Not quite.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57584497/the-irs-targeting-controversy-a-timeline/

The timeline shows that Steven Miller, the acting IRS chief who at the time was a deputy commissioner, was briefed on the practice on May 3, 2012. Despite this briefing, Miller wrote letters to members of Congress at least twice to explain the process of reviewing applications for tax-exempt status without disclosing that Tea Party groups had been targeted. On July 25, 2012, Miller testified before the House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee, but again did not mention the additional scrutiny -- despite being asked about it.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., blasted Miller over the revelation.

"It is almost inconceivable to imagine that top officials at the IRS knew conservative groups were being targeted but chose to willfully mislead the Committee's investigation into this practice," he said in a statement.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/14/irs-timeline-shows-dc-officials-in-loop-on-tea-party-targeting/#ixzz2TPcQohb8

 

[Mario Kart]

You guys need to take a 30 minute break and watch a message from our sponsors:

https://twitter.com/cr8f

 

[St. Louis Bob]

This reminds me of when Darth Vader uses the force to strangle the guy then just puts the next guy in line at his position.

 

[squistion]

Bill Maher ‏@billmaher 2h

The IRS targeted people who want to abolish the IRS? Shocking, like getting pulled over more after U put on the #### the Police bumpersticker

 

[pittstownkiller]

Bill Maher ‏@billmaher 2h

The IRS targeted people who want to abolish the IRS? Shocking, like getting pulled over more after U put on the #### the Police bumpersticker

He should get better writers for his twitter account.

 

[rockaction]

Bill Maher ‏@billmaher 2h

The IRS targeted people who want to abolish the IRS? Shocking, like getting pulled over more after U put on the #### the Police bumpersticker

He should get better writers for his twitter account.

That guy's a real card, and a genius. Genius.

 

[Statorama]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnxNRPy_SOA] Hey IRS (yankees) you can take your apology and

 

[Statorama]

Are any of you people seriously saying that the IRS just started targeting conservative groups on a whim? Are you kidding?

 

[BigSteelThrill]

Are any of you people seriously saying that the IRS just started targeting conservative groups on a whim? Are you kidding?

No, it wasn't a "whim" that got them to target political groups trying to avoid paying taxes.

 

[Statorama]

Unfortunately, that's not going to be enough for the "Defenders of Obama" around here. You have any actual video tape footage? That MIGHT work, but I'm pretty sure that won't be enough either for them.

What exactly is Obama guilty of [not] doing? So far there has been one unsubstantiated accusation that information was provided to and used by his campaign against Romney.

Sounds like this would be the prime time for a special investigator to check it out. If Obama has nothing to hide, he should welcome having his name cleared.

But as Chris Rock said "you didn't see ####, cause you were doing ####"

 

[Statorama]

Were the people protecting Nixon this obtuse?

 

[Sand]

Are any of you people seriously saying that the IRS just started targeting conservative groups on a whim? Are you kidding?

No, it wasn't a "whim" that got them to target political groups trying to avoid paying taxes.

After the intense scrutiny how many of these applicants were shown to be ineligible for 501c3/501c4 status?

 

[rockaction]

It's kind of amazing that the head of the IRS gets canned (largely symbolically) today and now the defenders are out in full force with this argument. This is becoming nothing more than circling the wagons because now TEAM BLUE has a scandal on its hands, like every party in charge for a second term. I suppose now the real fight begins and the heels dig in against truly independent investigations into the matter.

 

[BigSteelThrill]

Are any of you people seriously saying that the IRS just started targeting conservative groups on a whim? Are you kidding?

No, it wasn't a "whim" that got them to target political groups trying to avoid paying taxes.

After the intense scrutiny how many of these applicants were shown to be ineligible for 501c3/501c4 status?

Like a drinking check point. They usually set em up closer to bars and known hotspots regardless if nobody eventually gets cited.

But irregardless of that - its still not a "whim". It is, however, a new politico-tax nuance to deal with since the Citizens United ruling.

 

[Sand]

Are any of you people seriously saying that the IRS just started targeting conservative groups on a whim? Are you kidding?

No, it wasn't a "whim" that got them to target political groups trying to avoid paying taxes.

After the intense scrutiny how many of these applicants were shown to be ineligible for 501c3/501c4 status?

Like a drinking check point. They usually set em up closer to bars and known hotspots regardless if nobody eventually gets cited.

So the crux is after years of scrutiny on each of these entities they have, by and large, been found to be operating within current laws governing these bodies. Got it - thanks.

 

[BigSteelThrill]

After years?

Why did you respond with that and then delete the new Citizens United part?

Its a new nuance. And all I am retorting to is that it isn't a "whim".

 

[rockaction]

After years?

Why did you respond with that and then delete the new Citizens United part?

Its a new nuance. And all I am retorting to is that it isn't a "whim".

 

[BroncoFreak_2K3]

So they fired a guy who was leaving in 2 weeks anyway....good start here...

I predict an unannounced golfing vacay by the Prez ASAP.

 

[Carolina Hustler]

You guys need to take a 30 minute break and watch a message from our sponsors:

https://twitter.com/cr8f

Who is "ray reynolds"?

 

[Mario Kart]

You guys need to take a 30 minute break and watch a message from our sponsors:

https://twitter.com/cr8f

Who is "ray reynolds"?

He is the one true voice of The People. He has been cited on MSNBC, FOX News and a strong contributor to the great FFA. His biography stands among no one else. His popularity soars in the hearts of The People.

I'm really surprised you don't know who he is.

 

[Carolina Hustler]

Are any of you people seriously saying that the IRS just started targeting conservative groups on a whim? Are you kidding?

No, it wasn't a "whim" that got them to target political groups trying to avoid paying taxes.

After the intense scrutiny how many of these applicants were shown to be ineligible for 501c3/501c4 status?

Like a drinking check point. They usually set em up closer to bars and known hotspots regardless if nobody eventually gets cited.

But irregardless of that - its still not a "whim". It is, however, a new politico-tax nuance to deal with since the Citizens United ruling.

The IRS actually apologizes for doing wrong, which is basically an admission of guilt, and you still contend they did nothing wrong...

 

[Carolina Hustler]

You guys need to take a 30 minute break and watch a message from our sponsors:

https://twitter.com/cr8f

Who is "ray reynolds"?

He is the one true voice of The People. He has been cited on MSNBC, FOX News and a strong contributor to the great FFA. His biography stands among no one else. His popularity soars in the hearts of The People.

I'm really surprised you don't know who he is.

I'm not plugged into the political scene.. I don't watch political news, or listen to political radio shows. I get my fill of politics right here in the FFA..

 

[Carolina Hustler]

Were the people protecting Nixon this obtuse?

I expect they were..

'My team' politics has little basis in reality..

 

[Mario Kart]

You guys need to take a 30 minute break and watch a message from our sponsors:

https://twitter.com/cr8f

Who is "ray reynolds"?

He is the one true voice of The People. He has been cited on MSNBC, FOX News and a strong contributor to the great FFA. His biography stands among no one else. His popularity soars in the hearts of The People.

I'm really surprised you don't know who he is.

I'm not plugged into the political scene.. I don't watch political news, or listen to political radio shows. I get my fill of politics right here in the FFA..

Search "cr8f" here in the FFA. You will spend your morning learning so much. You will walk away a new person. Truly remarkable.

 

[Baloney Sandwich]

The President said he learned about this watching the news, basically two ways to view this statement. The first is to accept it as the truth which seems to suggest he is totally clueless to what is happening in his Administration. The second is that it is an outright lie. Which disturbs people more?

 

[Hang 10]

You guys need to take a 30 minute break and watch a message from our sponsors:

https://twitter.com/cr8f

Who is "ray reynolds"?

He is the one true voice of The People. He has been cited on MSNBC, FOX News and a strong contributor to the great FFA. His biography stands among no one else. His popularity soars in the hearts of The People.I'm really surprised you don't know who he is.

I'm not plugged into the political scene.. I don't watch political news, or listen to political radio shows. I get my fill of politics right here in the FFA..

Search "cr8f" here in the FFA. You will spend your morning learning so much. You will walk away a new person. Truly remarkable.

How long have you guys been sleeping together?

 

[Ministry of Pain]

Quick question for those of us not hanging on every post in this thread. IRS director stepped down right after this story broke so what is the problem now? Are conservatives going to spend the entire time Obama is in office 2nd term trying to discredit the man? Economy is rolling along now, stock market up, jobs are opening up, unless you live a very bleak life and I would argue it was that way prior to Obama in office...but what are people are wanting?

It's bad that the IRS did this, guy in charge fired/step down, move on. What exactly do we want to see happen here? My experience with the IRS since Obama got in office has been rather good.

 

[quickhands]

Quick question for those of us not hanging on every post in this thread. IRS director stepped down right after this story broke so what is the problem now? Are conservatives going to spend the entire time Obama is in office 2nd term trying to discredit the man? Economy is rolling along now, stock market up, jobs are opening up, unless you live a very bleak life and I would argue it was that way prior to Obama in office...but what are people are wanting? It's bad that the IRA did this, guy in charge fired/step down, move on. What exactly do we want to see happen here? My experience with the IRS since Obama got in office has been rather good.

Is this schtick? Also, your term "bad" might be a touch light.

 

[Mario Kart]

You guys need to take a 30 minute break and watch a message from our sponsors:

https://twitter.com/cr8f

Who is "ray reynolds"?

He is the one true voice of The People. He has been cited on MSNBC, FOX News and a strong contributor to the great FFA. His biography stands among no one else. His popularity soars in the hearts of The People.I'm really surprised you don't know who he is.

I'm not plugged into the political scene.. I don't watch political news, or listen to political radio shows. I get my fill of politics right here in the FFA..

Search "cr8f" here in the FFA. You will spend your morning learning so much. You will walk away a new person. Truly remarkable.

How long have you guys been sleeping together?

OMG, good one. Sarcasm is not lost on this one, folks. Careful!

 

[Hang 10]

You guys need to take a 30 minute break and watch a message from our sponsors:

https://twitter.com/cr8f

Who is "ray reynolds"?

He is the one true voice of The People. He has been cited on MSNBC, FOX News and a strong contributor to the great FFA. His biography stands among no one else. His popularity soars in the hearts of The People.I'm really surprised you don't know who he is.

I'm not plugged into the political scene.. I don't watch political news, or listen to political radio shows. I get my fill of politics right here in the FFA..

Search "cr8f" here in the FFA. You will spend your morning learning so much. You will walk away a new person. Truly remarkable.

How long have you guys been sleeping together?

OMG, good one. Sarcasm is not lost on this one, folks. Careful!

I'm just wondering why you're pimping for the guy. Oh wow, he used to post here...GTFO! Awesome!What the hell does it have to do with this thread?

 

[Bottomfeeder Sports]

Unfortunately, that's not going to be enough for the "Defenders of Obama" around here. You have any actual video tape footage? That MIGHT work, but I'm pretty sure that won't be enough either for them.

What exactly is Obama guilty of [not] doing? So far there has been one unsubstantiated accusation that information was provided to and used by his campaign against Romney.

Sounds like this would be the prime time for a special investigator to check it out. If Obama has nothing to hide, he should welcome having his name cleared.

But as Chris Rock said "you didn't see ####, cause you were doing ####"

Oh please! You guys are turning what should be a major "this is what you should expect of government" moment to push for scaling back the intrusiveness of "big government" into nothing but idiocy. This beautiful gift of years worth of solid talking points is not enough so instead we get non stop absurdity.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

Quick question for those of us not hanging on every post in this thread. IRS director stepped down right after this story broke so what is the problem now? Are conservatives going to spend the entire time Obama is in office 2nd term trying to discredit the man? Economy is rolling along now, stock market up, jobs are opening up, unless you live a very bleak life and I would argue it was that way prior to Obama in office...but what are people are wanting? It's bad that the IRA did this, guy in charge fired/step down, move on. What exactly do we want to see happen here? My experience with the IRS since Obama got in office has been rather good.

Is this schtick? Also, your term "bad" might be a touch light.

No. Are folks really thinking that Obama should take the wrap here and step down from office? Is that the schtick i am supposed to swallow here? That seems outrageous.

The guy in charge of the IRS resigned...he was leaving soon anyways it seems, so the timing doesn't work for some folks.

People are out for blood on every little hiccup it seems.

 

[GroveDiesel]

Quick question for those of us not hanging on every post in this thread. IRS director stepped down right after this story broke so what is the problem now? Are conservatives going to spend the entire time Obama is in office 2nd term trying to discredit the man? Economy is rolling along now, stock market up, jobs are opening up, unless you live a very bleak life and I would argue it was that way prior to Obama in office...but what are people are wanting? It's bad that the IRS did this, guy in charge fired/step down, move on. What exactly do we want to see happen here? My experience with the IRS since Obama got in office has been rather good.

Really? You don't think the guy that headed the department should be looked at? How about the employees that took part in it? How about having the conversation about why this is an example of why big government is a bad thing? None of that matters to you?

 

[Ministry of Pain]

Quick question for those of us not hanging on every post in this thread. IRS director stepped down right after this story broke so what is the problem now? Are conservatives going to spend the entire time Obama is in office 2nd term trying to discredit the man? Economy is rolling along now, stock market up, jobs are opening up, unless you live a very bleak life and I would argue it was that way prior to Obama in office...but what are people are wanting? It's bad that the IRS did this, guy in charge fired/step down, move on. What exactly do we want to see happen here? My experience with the IRS since Obama got in office has been rather good.

Really? You don't think the guy that headed the department should be looked at? How about the employees that took part in it? How about having the conversation about why this is an example of why big government is a bad thing? None of that matters to you?

Absolutely the guy stepping down should be put on a spit fire grill up on Capital Hill along with as many of the employees we can interview. If there is a connection to the White House then that should be explored. I'm not against Justice GD but I don't think much is accomplished when I see conservatives posting Nixon for comparisons. No one is gonna listen or take you seriously outside of your other neo conservatives.

 

[shader]

Quick question for those of us not hanging on every post in this thread. IRS director stepped down right after this story broke so what is the problem now? Are conservatives going to spend the entire time Obama is in office 2nd term trying to discredit the man? Economy is rolling along now, stock market up, jobs are opening up, unless you live a very bleak life and I would argue it was that way prior to Obama in office...but what are people are wanting? It's bad that the IRS did this, guy in charge fired/step down, move on. What exactly do we want to see happen here? My experience with the IRS since Obama got in office has been rather good.

Economy is not rolling along. Jobs aren't opening up.

 

[Runningman]

So the IRS has employees passing along personal and confidential information for people high in the Romney campaign to the Obama campaign that is leaked out to the friendly press through other left wing organizations that Obama campaign officers are part of, applications for non profit tax status for pro Romney and Tea Party groups are sat on and the applicants are asked for tremendous volumes of personal and excessively detailed information, some of which is illegal for the IRS to ask for, and these groups are targeted in battle ground states before the 2012 election. And all of this is done with no knowledge of either candidate or President Obama. One rogue employee! The government is to big for one man to over see everything! Riiiight.

Move along nothing to see here. Our sterling AG will clear this up in a matter of months.

 

[Runningman]

Oh and when the Obama care is implemented next year the IRS will have even more personal information to spread around. Can't wait.

 

[timschochet]

So the IRS has employees passing along personal and confidential information for people high in the Romney campaign to the Obama campaign that is leaked out to the friendly press through other left wing organizations that Obama campaign officers are part of, applications for non profit tax status for pro Romney and Tea Party groups are sat on and the applicants are asked for tremendous volumes of personal and excessively detailed information, some of which is illegal for the IRS to ask for, and these groups are targeted in battle ground states before the 2012 election. And all of this is done with no knowledge of either candidate or President Obama. One rogue employee! The government is to big for one man to over see everything! Riiiight.

Move along nothing to see here. Our sterling AG will clear this up in a matter of months.

1. If there is plausible evidence out there that all or most of what you've written above is true, then a special prosecutor needs to be appointed to investigate this right away.

2. If it turns out that President Obama was knowingly involved in the above actions and/or cover up, then he needs to be impeached and removed from office.

But personally I'm failing to connect the dots. Right now what we have is the IRS turning itself in for a low-level (though serious) error, along with a bunch of unsubstantiated stuff being spread around on the internet.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

Quick question for those of us not hanging on every post in this thread. IRS director stepped down right after this story broke so what is the problem now? Are conservatives going to spend the entire time Obama is in office 2nd term trying to discredit the man? Economy is rolling along now, stock market up, jobs are opening up, unless you live a very bleak life and I would argue it was that way prior to Obama in office...but what are people are wanting? It's bad that the IRS did this, guy in charge fired/step down, move on. What exactly do we want to see happen here? My experience with the IRS since Obama got in office has been rather good.

Economy is not rolling along. Jobs aren't opening up.

Dow is at all time highs. People are making money hand over fist right now, home prices are on the rise, interest rates are low, how is the economy not rolling along?

 

[jonessed]

Quick question for those of us not hanging on every post in this thread. IRS director stepped down right after this story broke so what is the problem now? Are conservatives going to spend the entire time Obama is in office 2nd term trying to discredit the man? Economy is rolling along now, stock market up, jobs are opening up, unless you live a very bleak life and I would argue it was that way prior to Obama in office...but what are people are wanting? It's bad that the IRS did this, guy in charge fired/step down, move on. What exactly do we want to see happen here? My experience with the IRS since Obama got in office has been rather good.

Economy is not rolling along. Jobs aren't opening up.

Dow is at all time highs. People are making money hand over fist right now, home prices are on the rise, interest rates are low, how is the economy not rolling along?

 

[pittstownkiller]

You guys need to take a 30 minute break and watch a message from our sponsors: https://twitter.com/cr8f

Who is "ray reynolds"?

He is the one true voice of The People. He has been cited on MSNBC, FOX News and a strong contributor to the great FFA. His biography stands among no one else. His popularity soars in the hearts of The People. I'm really surprised you don't know who he is.

I'm not plugged into the political scene.. I don't watch political news, or listen to political radio shows. I get my fill of politics right here in the FFA..

Search "cr8f" here in the FFA. You will spend your morning learning so much. You will walk away a new person. Truly remarkable.

How long have you guys been sleeping together?

OMG, good one. Sarcasm is not lost on this one, folks. Careful!

I'm just wondering why you're pimping for the guy. Oh wow, he used to post here...GTFO! Awesome!What the hell does it have to do with this thread?

cr8f posted rather hysterical left-wing hyperbole during the election and had a near meltdown during the first Presidential debate; you(?) asked who he was and even though you can't understand the answers you got, they are accurate.

 

[Ghost Rider]

The President said he learned about this watching the news, basically two ways to view this statement. The first is to accept it as the truth which seems to suggest he is totally clueless to what is happening in his Administration. The second is that it is an outright lie. Which disturbs people more?

Because I assume all politicians lie their asses off, the first would be more disturbing.

 

[Hang 10]

You guys need to take a 30 minute break and watch a message from our sponsors: https://twitter.com/cr8f

Who is "ray reynolds"?

He is the one true voice of The People. He has been cited on MSNBC, FOX News and a strong contributor to the great FFA. His biography stands among no one else. His popularity soars in the hearts of The People. I'm really surprised you don't know who he is.

I'm not plugged into the political scene.. I don't watch political news, or listen to political radio shows. I get my fill of politics right here in the FFA..

Search "cr8f" here in the FFA. You will spend your morning learning so much. You will walk away a new person. Truly remarkable.

How long have you guys been sleeping together?

OMG, good one. Sarcasm is not lost on this one, folks. Careful!

I'm just wondering why you're pimping for the guy. Oh wow, he used to post here...GTFO! Awesome!What the hell does it have to do with this thread?

cr8f posted rather hysterical left-wing hyperbole during the election and had a near meltdown during the first Presidential debate; you(?) asked who he was and even though you can't understand the answers you got, they are accurate.

I remember him posting here. I'm just wondering why we should care about his twitter feed and how it relates to this topic.

 

[pittstownkiller]

For anyone interested in the actual laws involved here and where the IRS people may be in trouble, here's a pretty solid rundown.

Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday announced that he had ordered a criminal investigation into the IRS scandal, in which the agency was found to have inappropriately screened and handled applications for tax-exempt status from conservative groups.“The FBI is coordinating with the Justice Department to see if any laws were broken in connection with those matters related to the IRS,” Holder said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon. “We are examining the facts to see if there were criminal violations.”The question then became what laws, specifically, investigators would look at. At a Congressional hearing on Wednesday, Holder gave a few more hints, telling lawmakers that the Justice Department was looking at possible “criminal violations of civil rights statutes” as well as any false statements that may have been made, presumably by IRS officials. Holder also mentioned the Hatch Act, which limits the political activity of government employees. While not criminal, Hatch Act violations can result in firings or suspensions.To try to get a better sense of what investigators will focus on, TPM spoke on Wednesday with two former officials and a tax law professor. Here’s one thing they suggested: if you’re looking for criminal violations, you’re probably going to have to look beyond the report released by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration on Tuesday.Nathan Hochman, a former assistant attorney general for the tax division of the Justice Department, and currently a partner at the law firm Bingham McCutchen, said it was telling that the report did not refer any of its findings to the Justice Department.“Generally, the [inspector General] is not shy if they find clear-cut violations of criminal law to recommend that the Department of Justice investigate them and refer them for criminal investigation,” Hochman told TPM. “The fact that you don’t see that here suggests that, at least in the IG’s mind … the level of conduct didn’t rise to that level of violation.”That said, the report is not the last word on the story, and federal investigators have many more tools at their disposal than the IG investigators did.“For instance, the Department of Justice can convene a grand jury to look at this issue, issue grand jury subpoenas, bring people in front of the grand jury to give testimony under penalty of perjury,” Hochman said. “They have the ability, if necessary, to offer immunity, for testimony that the IG couldn’t.”According to Hochman, a civil rights case in this context would be unusual, even though Holder mentioned the possibility on Wednesday.“I’ve never seen, at least recently, this statute be used where the civil rights being violated are your First Amendment rights … probably right of association being the number one here,” Hochman said. “Even if they were singled out for this additional scrutiny, the question will be, well, does that constitute, at a criminal level, a violation of your First Amendment rights?”It’s not just the government’s lawyers that will be interested in possible civil rights violations. Ellen Aprill, a professor at Loyola Law School, said that while political motive is absent from the IG report, if it could be proved, the wronged organizations could bring their own action.“I actually don’t think the report shows that there was political animus and they were out to just get the right-wing groups, because it was only a small fraction of the groups that got these long letters,” Aprill told TPM. “But if they could show it, then I guess [the groups] could try to bring a Bivens action for violation of their civil rights.” (A Bivens action is a way for victims of constitutional violations to sue the government.)With what is known right now, there appear to be at least two more areas of interest, both of which fall outside the scope of the IG report. The first is the IRS’ release late last year of pending confidential applications to the news outlet ProPublica. Applications for tax-exempt status normally become public after groups are approved. But until then, they are supposed to remain secret. For reasons still unknown, that’s not what happened for nine groups whose materials were sent to ProPublica.“It’s not in the report at all, but that’s the only place that I can imagine Eric Holder would have a hook for bringing criminal prosecution against anybody in the IRS in this whole affair,” Philip Hackney, an assistant professor of law at Louisiana State University and a former senior technician reviewer in the the IRS’ Office of Chief Counsel, told TPM.Disclosing taxpayer information is a very serious offense for an IRS agent.“That’s like the one-way ticket to the crowbar Hilton in the IRS,” Hackney said.The other area that might be looked at, as Holder mentioned on Wednesday, is false statements made by IRS officials.“They’re going to look at the statements that were made by the IRS, particularly to Congress, and determine whether or not any false statements were made,” Hochman said. “Which at the criminal level it’s a pretty detailed look at both the actual statement that was made, and the question to which it was responding to, or the context in which it was given.”

Do you have any problem with Holder's JD running this show and investigating the Administration's possible involvement; I do, they have been hand-in-hand since Obama first got elected. His recusal is comical. If he names an Independent Counsel then I certainly would feel more confident (I will reserve the right to fully endorse until I see who may be named).

 

[pittstownkiller]

You guys need to take a 30 minute break and watch a message from our sponsors: https://twitter.com/cr8f

Who is "ray reynolds"?

He is the one true voice of The People. He has been cited on MSNBC, FOX News and a strong contributor to the great FFA. His biography stands among no one else. His popularity soars in the hearts of The People. I'm really surprised you don't know who he is.

I'm not plugged into the political scene.. I don't watch political news, or listen to political radio shows. I get my fill of politics right here in the FFA..

Search "cr8f" here in the FFA. You will spend your morning learning so much. You will walk away a new person. Truly remarkable.

How long have you guys been sleeping together?

OMG, good one. Sarcasm is not lost on this one, folks. Careful!

I'm just wondering why you're pimping for the guy. Oh wow, he used to post here...GTFO! Awesome!What the hell does it have to do with this thread?

cr8f posted rather hysterical left-wing hyperbole during the election and had a near meltdown during the first Presidential debate; you(?) asked who he was and even though you can't understand the answers you got, they are accurate.

I remember him posting here. I'm just wondering why we should care about his twitter feed and how it relates to this topic.

When there is a ***** in The Left's armor, it is always nice to see cr8f immolate himself.

 

[17seconds]

If you believe that Obama is responsible for the Benghazi, DoJ, and IRS incidents and at the same time think killing Bin Laden was all Seal Team 6, you suck.

I've seen some of that this week.

 

[Carolina Hustler]

If you believe that Obama is responsible for the Benghazi, DoJ, and IRS incidents and at the same time think killing Bin Laden was all Seal Team 6, you suck.

I've seen some of that this week.

that works both ways guys..