Tag Archives: steve stockman

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.

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.

Follow Annabelle on Facebook and Twitter.

Politics, US

Congressman Left Obama’s SOTU Speech Early Because He “Could Not Bear To Watch”

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130613_steve_stockman_ap_328

Several Republican officials publicly expressed dissatisfaction with President Obama’s State of the Union address last night. But one congressman from Texas, Steve Stockman, was so disgusted with Obama’s speech that he actually left early.

Stockman said in a press release, “Tonight I left early after hearing how the President is further abusing his Constitutional powers. I could not bear to watch as he continued to cross the clearly-defined boundaries of the Constitutional separation of powers. Needless to say, I am deeply disappointed in the tone and content of tonight’s address.”

He continued, “After five years in office Obama refuses to admit his policies have failed. He instead demands we double down on the bitter class warfare that has left Americans jobless and hopeless.”

Stockman was especially disturbed by Obama’s promise to “act on his own,” without Congress. The Texas Senator said, “Obama has openly vowed to break his oath of office and begin enacting his own brand of law through executive decree. This is a wholesale violation of his oath of office and a disqualifying offense.”

Many of Stockman’s Republican colleagues shared his sentiment. Rep. Gregg Harper (R-Miss.) said, “The president’s attempt to intimidate Congress by abusing executive power demonstrates a serious unwillingness to work with the coequal legislative branch of government.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) said, “Last night President Obama had the opportunity to answer critical questions that millions of Americans are asking all around the country, but he didn’t, which is precisely why so many Americans have lost trust in this President.”

Many Democrats, on the other hand, had positive responses to Obama’s State of the Union address.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal.) said, “President Obama spoke directly to the highest aspirations of the American people by defining a vision of opportunity and optimism for our future. His initiatives will build an economy that works for everyone.”

What did you think of Obama’s speech? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below.

Follow Kristin on Facebook and Twitter.