Tag Archives: lois lerner

Featured, US

Lois Lerner emails show DOJ and IRS were working together

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The recovered emails Lois Lerner attempted to delete concerning the allegations against the IRS and their supposed targeting of conservative groups, show the Department of Justice was helping the IRS.

Some of the recovered emails show Lerner had met with the DOJ’s Election Crime Division about one month before the 2010 elections, according to Forbes.  This in and of itself isn’t damning, but this coupled with the DOJ’s refusal to show over 800 pages of documents concerning Lerner, citing “taxpayer privacy” and “deliberative privilege” as reason not to hand out the documents raises suspicions.

Even worse, a few internal DOJ documents were recovered which showed Lerner had discussed the possibility of prosecuting tax-exempt entities with the DOJ around the same time Lerner was meeting with DOJ officials.

According to the Examiner, other documents contained within the deleted emails show Lerner sent the DOJ a “1.1 million page database of information from 501(c)(4) tax exempt organizations,” which included various classified tax records.

A FOIA filed by the government watchdog group Judicial Watch also  revealed how the DOJ was involved in the IRS scandal.  Judicial Watch’s president, Tom Fitton, said it was outrageous that the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section, which is supposed to be investigating such abuses of power and authority, was shown to be involved in the IRS scandal as well.

“It is shameful how Establishment Washington has let slide by Obama’s abuse of the IRS and the Justice Department,” said Fitton according to Breitbart.  “Only as a result of Judicial Watch’s independent investigations did the American people learn about the IRS-DOJ prosecution discussions of Obama’s political enemies and how the IRS sent, in violation of law, confidential taxpayer information to the FBI and DOJ in 2010.”

Opinion, Politics, US

IRS Tech Experts Claim That Lois Lerner’s Hard Drive Was Only “Scratched”

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In a press release Tuesday, the Ways And Means Committee discovered through interviews with IRS technology experts that former IRS official Lois Lerner’s hard drive was scratched, but not unrecoverable. In addition to this discovery, the release stated that professionals within the agency had advised the IRS to seek independent assistance to retrieve the data, and this recommendation was ignored.

According to the press release, “investigators have now learned from interviews that the hard drive of former IRS Exempt Organizations Director Lois Lerner was ‘scratched’, but data was recoverable.”

Not only did the press release contradict previous testimony claiming that all efforts to recover Lerner’s hard drive had been exhausted, but it also stated that “a review of internal IRS IT tracking system documents revealed that Lerner’s computer was actually once described as ‘recovered.’” IRS IT employees were unable to clarify exactly what “recovered” meant.

Last month, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen had testified that Lerner’s hard drive was unrecoverable and had been “recycled”, or destroyed. Koskinen said he was unsure if the hard drive had been smashed or melted down, but he admitted that it was indeed physically destroyed.

In another twist, IRS Deputy Associate Chief Counsel Thomas Kane testified on July 17th that he was unsure if backup tapes of Lerner’s emails were actually recycled. IRS officials had previously claimed that all backup tapes of emails were recycled after six months.

Experts say the IRS should have documentation of the elimination of  Lerner’s hard drive, but proof of its destruction is still yet to be found.

“From a purely contractual standpoint, if you send something over to a contractor, you would have to get a statement back saying they actually completed the work to actually pay them … because then you would know that it was destroyed,” said government tech official Karen Evans.

What began as an inquiry into allegations of the IRS unfairly targeting conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status has grown into a mystifying examination of the incompetence of the IRS in its inability to properly keep records.

“The Committee was told no data was recoverable and the physical drive was recycled and potentially shredded.  To now learn that the hard drive was only scratched, yet the IRS refused to utilize outside experts to recover the data, raises more questions about potential criminal wrong doing at the IRS,” said Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI).

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) disagrees with the investigation, and sent a letter to House Oversight and Government Reform Chair Darrell Issa (R-CA) objecting to Koskinen being called to testify a third time, declaring it “public harassment of an agency head”.

 

 

Politics, US

Gary Johnson: “Imagine Life without Having To Deal with The IRS”

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Following the latest letter released from former IRS official Lois Lerner, former Governor of New Mexico and 2012 Libertarian party presidential candidate, Gary Johnson, added his two cents regarding the controversy with the Internal Revenue Service in an interview with the New Mexico Watchdog.

As BenSwann.com previously reported, in Lerner’s e-mail she warned her colleagues, writing, “We need to be cautious about what we say in emails.”  This warning from Lerner came in the midst of the controversy over missing e-mails, and was followed by an order from a federal judge, demanding IRS officials explain, under oath, how Lerner’s emails disappeared.

“Come on, loss of emails? Give me a break,” said Johnson in response to the Lerner debacle. “If that doesn’t outrage anybody who looks at this, then you’re out to lunch.”

Controversies such as the one involving Lois Lerner are no surprise to Gary Johnson, who said, “To a higher degree or a lesser degree this is what happens when you have bureaucrats in charge that can manipulate the system any way they so choose.”

“Imagine life without having to deal with the IRS,” said Johnson, who told the New Mexico Watchdog that his ultimate solution would be to end the IRS altogether.

“Let’s abolish the IRS, let’s eliminate income tax, let’s eliminate corporate tax, let’s balance the federal budget and if we need a tax, it can be one federal consumption tax,” Johnson proposed.

The federal consumption tax Johnson has in mind would work from a single point of purchase, taxing people only when they spend money on a certain item or service. “I think a great starting point for a debate and discussion over a national consumption tax is, let’s start with the Fair Tax, legislation that has been written up,” said Johnson.

While some may question whether such a change would ever take place, John said, “I believe it will take place because at some point all these smart people will actually get with it.”

“Why would any company, anywhere in the world, locate anywhere but the United States, given zero corporate tax?” said Johnson. “The entire world will change their tax structure to emulate no income tax, no corporate tax, no more filing.”

Politics, US

Federal Judge Orders IRS Explanation Of Lost Lerner Emails

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Following the release of an email from former IRS official Lois Lerner warning that “we need to be cautious about what we say in emails” and asking if the IRS chat system could be searched, a federal judge ordered the IRS to explain how it lost countless other emails to and from Lerner.

U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan has given the IRS a month to provide an explanation: “I’m going to hold tight to that Aug. 10 declaration.” What explanation could be offered at this time is anyone’s guess.

Judge Andrew Napolitano appeared on Fox News with Neil Cavuto to talk about Sullivan’s order.

“It’s getting interesting, because while Congress is attempting to get information from Lois Lerner and her colleagues at the IRS about the so-called ‘missing’ and ‘crashed’ emails, two federal judges are doing so as well. And they have tools that the Congress doesn’t have,” said Napolitano.

“They have the ability to lock people up when they mislead, lie, lie to the court, or disobey orders. Just this afternoon, a federal judge by the name of Emmet Sullivan- in a case filed by Judicial Watch, those wonderful, ethical watchdogs in DC that keep the government’s feet to the fire, said to the IRS ‘you’ve got 30 days. I want certifications under oath. And every time you have a conversation about emails you can’t find, it’s going to be in the presence of another federal judge, and he is going to scrutinize everything you say’.”

On Wednesday, emails released by House Oversight Republicans revealed one potentially incriminating email in particular, in which Lerner wrote to another IRS employee:

“I had a question today about OCS [Microsoft Office Communications Server, the internal chat system used by the IRS] . I was cautioning folks about email and how we have had several occasions where Congress has asked for emails and there has been an electronic search for responsive emails—so we need to be cautious about what we say in emails. Someone asked if OCS conversations were also searchable—I don’t know, but told them I would get back to them. Do you know?”

“OCS messages are not set to automatically save as the standard; however the functionality exists within the software. That being said the parties involved in an OCS conversation can copy and save the contents of the conversation to an email or file,” replied IRS technology employee Maria Hooke. “‘My general recommendation is to treat the conversation as if it could/is being save somewhere, as it is possible for either party of the conversation to retain the information and have it turn up as part of the electronic search. Make sense?”

“Perfect,” wrote Lerner in response.

These emails were sent April 9, 2013 between Lerner, Hooke, and IRS Director for Exempt Organizations Exam Unit Manager Nanette Downing, and has fueled suspicion that Lerner has something to hide. On Thursday, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) called this email exchange a “smoking gun”.

“This is Lois Lerner clearly cautioning people not to say things on email and be delighted to find out that the local instant chat they have, this Microsoft product, wasn’t tracking what they said,” said Issa.

“It’s very clear that on April 9, 2013, well into this investigation, she’s still on the job and she’s still covering her tracks and considering, if you will, whether they are covered,” he added.

Also on Thursday, Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX), the same Congressman and vocal critic of Lerner and the IRS who asked the NSA to turn over Lerner’s missing emails and introduced “The Dog Ate My Tax Receipts Act,” has filed a motion to push the Congressional police to arrest Lerner for contempt of Congress.

Political commentator Charles Krauthammer called Stockman’s motion “almost as idiotic as impeachment”. “You don’t want stunts like the Sergeant of Arms of Congress arresting Lois Lerner for God’s sake,” said Krauthammer. “But what you do is you trust the courts because the Democrats, the administration and the IRS are going to have to respect what a judge does.”

Politics

Paul Ryan to IRS Commissioner: “I just, I don’t believe it. That’s your problem, nobody believes you.”

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Americans are outraged over the IRS’ claim that a “computer glitch” erased the hard drives of all incriminating evidence of Lois Lerner’s emails. 

Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wis) made a statement to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen today calling him out for an obvious political cover-up.

“This is unbelievable,” said Ryan. “I am sitting here listening to this testimony… I  just, I don’t believe it. That’s your problem, nobody believes you.”

“You are the Internal Revenue Service. You can reach into the lives of hard-working taxpayers and with a phone call, an email, or a letter you can turn their lives upside-down. You ask taxpayers to hang on to seven years of their personal tax information in case they are ever audited, and you can’t keep six months’ worth of employee emails?”

Many Americans feel the same anger and frustration Ryan voiced today, but will Ryan do anything about it? Will Ryan try to eliminate the IRS completely?

Congressman Steve Stockman (R-TX) said, “The United States was founded on the belief government is subservient and accountable to the people.  Taxpayers shouldn’t be expected to follow laws the Obama administration refuses to follow themselves,” said Stockman.  “Taxpayers should be allowed to offer the same flimsy, obviously made-up excuses the Obama administration uses.”

Stockman’s bill, “The Dog Ate My Tax Receipts Act,” will allow taxpayers to offer the same lame excuses as the IRS did today.
The full text of the resolution follows:

The resolution may be cited as the “Dog Ate My Tax Receipts Resolution.”

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) must allow taxpayers the same lame excuses for missing documentation that the IRS itself is currently proffering

Whereas, the IRS claims that convenient, unexplained, miscellaneous computer malfunction is sufficient justification not to produce specific, critical documentation; and,

Whereas, fairness and Due Process demand that the American taxpayer be granted no less latitude than we afford the bureaucrats employed presently at the IRS;

Now, therefore, be it resolved that it is the sense of the House of Representatives that unless and until the Internal Revenue Service produces all documentation demanded by subpoena or otherwise by the House of Representatives, or produces an excuse that passes the red face test,

All taxpayers shall be given the benefit of the doubt when not producing critical documentation, so long as the taxpayer’s excuse therefore falls into one of the following categories:

1.         The dog ate my tax receipts
2.         Convenient, unexplained, miscellaneous computer malfunction
3.         Traded documents for five terrorists
4.         Burned for warmth while lost in the Yukon
5.         Left on table in Hillary’s Book Room
6.         Received water damage in the trunk of Ted Kennedy’s car
7.         Forgot in gun case sold to Mexican drug lords
8.         Forced to recycle by municipal Green Czar
9.         Was short on toilet paper while camping
10.       At this point, what difference does it make?

In any case, IRS can see the NSA for a good, high quality copy.

Politics, US

Congressman Stockman introduces bill to grant taxpayers same excuse as IRS

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WASHINGTON, June 20, 2014– Can’t do your taxes because the dog ate your hard drive? No problem! According to a press release from Congressman Steve Stockman (R- Texas), taxpayers who do not produce documents for the Internal Revenue Service will be able to offer a variety of dubious excuses under new legislation he introduced a week after the IRS offered an incredibly dubious excuse for its failure to turn documents over to House investigators.

“The United States was founded on the belief government is subservient and accountable to the people.  Taxpayers shouldn’t be expected to follow laws the Obama administration refuses to follow themselves,” said Stockman.  “Taxpayers should be allowed to offer the same flimsy, obviously made-up excuses the Obama administration uses.”

Under Stockman’s bill, “The Dog Ate My Tax Receipts Act,” taxpayers who do not provide documents requested by the IRS can claim one of the following reasons:

1.         The dog ate my tax receipts
2.         Convenient, unexplained, miscellaneous computer malfunction
3.         Traded documents for five terrorists
4.         Burned for warmth while lost in the Yukon
5.         Left on table in Hillary’s Book Room
6.         Received water damage in the trunk of Ted Kennedy’s car
7.         Forgot in gun case sold to Mexican drug lords
8.         Forced to recycle by municipal Green Czar
9.         Was short on toilet paper while camping
10.       At this point, what difference does it make?

Stockman’s bill comes a week after the IRS refused to turn over to House investigators emails from former Exempt Organizations Divison director Lois Lerner that would implicate agency personnel in illegal targeting of citizens critical of President Barack Obama.

The IRS claimed a “computer glitch” has erased the hard drives of all incriminating evidence.  The IRS further claimed the hard drives are not available for forensic investigation as they had just been destroyed for recycling.

The full text of the resolution follows:

The resolution may be cited as the “Dog Ate My Tax Receipts Resolution.”

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) must allow taxpayers the same lame excuses for missing documentation that the IRS itself is currently proffering

Whereas, the IRS claims that convenient, unexplained, miscellaneous computer malfunction is sufficient justification not to produce specific, critical documentation; and,

Whereas, fairness and Due Process demand that the American taxpayer be granted no less latitude than we afford the bureaucrats employed presently at the IRS;

Now, therefore, be it resolved that it is the sense of the House of Representatives that unless and until the Internal Revenue Service produces all documentation demanded by subpoena or otherwise by the House of Representatives, or produces an excuse that passes the red face test,

All taxpayers shall be given the benefit of the doubt when not producing critical documentation, so long as the taxpayer’s excuse therefore falls into one of the following categories:

1.         The dog ate my tax receipts
2.         Convenient, unexplained, miscellaneous computer malfunction
3.         Traded documents for five terrorists
4.         Burned for warmth while lost in the Yukon
5.         Left on table in Hillary’s Book Room
6.         Received water damage in the trunk of Ted Kennedy’s car
7.         Forgot in gun case sold to Mexican drug lords
8.         Forced to recycle by municipal Green Czar
9.         Was short on toilet paper while camping
10.       At this point, what difference does it make?

In any case, IRS can see the NSA for a good, high quality copy.

Follow Michael Lotfi On Facebook & Twitter.

Politics, US

Testimony From IRS Commissioner Claimed Lerner’s Emails Were Archived

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While the White House has defended the IRS in its explanation of former IRS official Lois Lerner’s lost emails, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) offered a reminder that IRS Commissioner John Koskinen testified in March 2014 that IRS employee emails had been stored on servers.

In the video, Koskinen testified that his own emails were not all on his computer, but “stored somewhere”.

“I mean, that’s one of the brilliance of the email system, is you go in, you check the set box, the inbox, and you suddenly have all the emails, correct?” Chaffetz asked Koskinen.

“Right, they get taken off and stored in servers,” Koskinen replied. He then declared that Lerner’s emails could be found, although he said he had no idea how much time the search would take when pressed by Chaffetz.

Email exchanges from 2011 show that Lerner’s computer hard drive did crash followed by unsuccessful attempts to recover it and Lerner summarizing, “sometimes stuff just happens.”

Since the IRS revealed the loss of Lerner’s emails, many Republicans, including Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Dave Camp (R-MI), have expressed doubt that Lerner’s emails could be easily destroyed. The IRS explained that there was a limit to how many emails IRS employees could store on servers.

In 2011, the limit was about 1,800 emails and “each employee got to choose which emails to keep and which to archive in the hard drive on their computer,” according to The Hill. Hard copies were supposed to be made of “official documents,” but it is unclear who was responsible for making that determination.

On Monday, incoming White House spokesman Josh Earnest disregarded the increased skepticism from Republicans and the American public over the lost emails. “You’ve never heard of a computer crashing before?” Earnest asked reporters. “I think it’s entirely reasonable, because it’s the truth and it’s a fact, and speculation otherwise I think is indicative of the kinds of conspiracies that are propagated around this story.  And they’re propagated in a way that has left people with a very mistaken impression about what exactly occurred,” Earnest said.

Koskinen was subpoenaed to appear before the Oversight Committee on June 23rd.  “Congress passed the Federal Records Act (FRA) to preserve key documents—such as those that were stored on Lerner’s hard drive—for production to congressional investigators and other stakeholders, including historians and FOIA requesters.  The FRA requires agencies to make and preserve records of agency decisions, policies, and essential transactions, and to take steps to safeguard against the loss of agency records,” wrote Issa, who serves as the chairman for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

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Featured, Politics, US

Congressman Asks NSA To Turn Over Lois Lerner’s Metadata After IRS Loses Her Emails

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One month after Congress held former IRS official Lois Lerner in contempt for refusing to testify about her involvement in targeting conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, the IRS told Congress Friday that it lost over two years’ worth of crucial emails between Lerner and various federal agencies.

The agency claimed that the emails were lost because Lerner’s computer crashed in 2011.

“The fact that I am just learning about this, over a year into the investigation, is completely unacceptable and now calls into question the credibility of the IRS’s response to congressional inquiries,” said House Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI). “There needs to be an immediate investigation and forensic audit by Department of Justice as well as the inspector general.”

In a press release, Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) asked  NSA director Michael Rogers to release Lerner’s metadata, saying

 “the metadata will establish who Lerner contacted and when, which helps investigators determine the extent of illegal activity by the IRS.” 

In his email to Rogers, Stockman wrote:

I am writing to request the Agency produce all metadata it has collected on all of Ms. Lerner’s email accounts for the period between January 2009 and April 2011. The data may be transmitted to our Communications Director at Donny@mail.house.gov. Your prompt cooperation in this matter will be greatly appreciated and will help establish how IRS and other personnel violated rights protected by the First Amendment.

The IRS said it was able to gather 24,000 of Lerner’s emails that had been copied to other IRS employees. However, the vital missing emails are communications that were sent to agencies outside of the IRS, including “the White House, Treasury, Department of Justice, FEC, or Democrat offices,” according to Camp’s office.

House Oversight Committee chairman Darrell Issa(R-CA) implied that the Obama administration has been deceptive in this sudden revelation of missing emails. “Do they really expect the American people to believe that, after having withheld these emails for a year, they’re just now realizing the most critical time period is missing?” Issa wrote in an email statement.

“The IRS has remained focused on being thorough and responding as quickly as possible to the wide-ranging requests from Congress while taking steps to protect underlying taxpayer information,” read an IRS statement.

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Interviews, US

Exclusive: Lois Lerner’s IRS is still targeting Tea Party and Liberty Groups

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In an exclusive interview, Dianne Belsom, President and Founder of the Laurens County Tea Party told Joshua Cook:

“There is no justice. I testified last June before the House Committee on Ways and Means and its now been 3 years and 9 months since we filed for 501c4 status. And we still haven’t heard from the IRS.”

“Lois Lerner, she works for us. If you worked for a private firm and your boss told you to come in to give an account of yourself, you wouldn’t say: “well, I plead the 5th” said Belsom.

Belsom doesn’t believe that Attorney General Eric Holder with send Lerner to jail.

“The government is just stonewalling. We have crossed into a totalitarian government where government agencies like the IRS wield incredible power,” Belsom said. “It’s a very scary place to be in where the government’s checks and balances are not working.”

Belsom told Cook that the FBI never asked her any questions regarding the IRS’ illegal targeting of conservative groups. Watch this video to learn more about the IRS targeting the Laurens Tea Party.

Today the DailyPaul is reporting that the IRS is targeting Campaign for Liberty, issuing the organization a hefty fine and demanding they turn over sensitive contributor information.

Both cases above illustrate that nothing has changed. The government is still targeting these groups. So far the Lerner hearings haven’t produced any results. It appears that the Lerner campaign is still in play and the Obama IRS attack machine is still open for business.

So what’s next?

If the Attorney General Eric Holder doesn’t act on the accusations against former IRS official Lois Lerner, Republicans of the House Ways and Means Committee could use the “inherent contempt” authority, to hold her accountable for not answering their questions regarding unfair scrutiny given to Tea Party groups, applying for tax-exempt status.

The committee voted Wednesday to seek an investigation into Lerner’s activities, including giving misleading information during a probe of the matter by the Treasury Department’s inspector general and using her personal e-mail to conduct official business, which could have resulted in the unsafe disclosure of confidential taxpayer information.

“The Ways and Means Committee, led by Chairman [Dave] Camp [R-Mich.], has conducted a serious and thorough investigation of the IRS, uncovering abuses and criminal acts that should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said of the referral in the Washington Examiner. “As I’ve said, if Lois Lerner continues to refuse to testify, then the House will hold her in contempt. And we will continue to shine the light on the administration’s abusive actions and use every tool at our disposal to expose the truth and ensure the American people get the answers they deserve.”

And one of those tools is the House’s “inherent contempt” authority provided to it under the Constitution. Lerner could be jailed until January 2015 when a new Congress is seated, which could issue another subpoena and throw her back in jail again if she still refuses to testify.

The Washington Examiner reported that Representative Kevin Brady (R-Texas) a Ways and Means Committee member, said that he hoped that it wouldn’t come to holding her in contempt.

“This is a very thorough, deliberate investigation,” he said. “This congressional referral is commonplace when we find evidence of wrongdoing from the legislative branch. Let’s hope the attorney general does his job,” he said.

 

What’s your opinion? Will these groups get justice? Will Holder or the House send Lerner to jail?