Cleta Mitchell Testifying on IRS Scandal: Lies Upon Lies, Not BoneHeaded Bureaucrats, It’s Not Over
Maggie
Maggie’s Notebook
2/7/2014
…First, the IRS scandal is real. It’s not pretend, it’s real. No. 2, the IRS scandal is not just a ‘bone-headed’ bunch of bureaucrats in some remote office, contrary to what the President of the United States told the American people on Sunday. No. 3, the IRS scandal is not over. It is continuing to this day, and the Department of Justice investigation is a sham. It is a non-existent investigation.
With regard to point No. 1, let me tell you in one sentence what the IRS scandal is. The IRS, at the direction of some political elites in Washington, not in Cincinnati, but Washington, took what had been, for decades, a process of reviewing applications for exempt status, that 501(c)(4) statuses could be expected to take three to four weeks, and they converted that process, into one that three to four years, and in some cases, is still not over…
…this scandal is not over. The lying has not stopped. I represent one TEA Party group, TEA Party Patriots, who applied in December of 2010, they still don’t have their (c)(4) status. There are lies upon lies in this ugly episode. The Commissioner of the IRS lied to Congress, lied…I believe it was this Committee in March of 2012 or April 2012, he said there was no targeting. How many communications from the IRS to Congress, who inquired about this status of application and whether there was targeting — how many communications were there, in which agents of the IRS told Congress that there was no targeting? Those are lies. Lying to Congress is a crime. The Department of Justice has refused to investigate who it was that was responsible for releasing the confidential tax information of Koch Industries to the President’s Economic Advisor who in turn released it to the press. Or who released the National Organization of Marriages tax returns? I represent NOM. We sued the IRS to try to get to the bottom of why our confidential tax information was made available to our political opponents. Where’s the FBI, in investigating? That’s a criminal offense. It’s a criminal offense to also for the IRS to release the confidential donor information of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the Republican Governor’s Public Policy Council — conservative organization’s donor information was released by the IRS — that’s a criminal offense. Who’s investigating that?…
The complete article, with video of Cleta Mitchell’s testimony, is at Maggie’s Notebook.
Related: Rep. Trey Gowdy eviscerates President Obama’s ‘smidgen of corruption’ claim
“The president says there’s not a ‘smidgen’ of criminality or corruption. Do either of you remember seeing a witness named Lois Lerner, sitting at the very table y’all are sitting at? Do you remember her invoking her Fifth Amendment privilege? The same privilege that she targeted some of your groups for trying to educate people about? Some of your groups just want to simply educate people about the Constitution — the one she availed herself of the very second she was exposed to criminal investigation. So how can the president say there’s not a ‘smidgen’ of criminality when Lois Lerner invoked the Fifth Amendment? Forty-one witnesses haven’t been interviewed, including the two who are here right now! How can he possibly draw that conclusion?”
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Catherine Engelbrecht’s Testimony at House of Representatives Hearing on IRS Targeting
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During a hearing of the House Oversight And Government Reform Committee on the IRS’ alleged targeting of conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status yesterday, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) tried to dismiss Catherine Engelbrecht’s, founder of the King Street Patriots, concerns over potentially being targeted by the IRS. Unfortunately for Rep. Connolly, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) was there to dress him down…
…JORDAN: Ms. Engelbrecht, in the first 20 years of business, did OSHA ever visit your place of business?
ENGELBRECHT: No sir.
JORDAN: Never once?
ENGELBRECHT: No sir.
JORDAN: After you filed the [tax-exempt application for King Street Patriots], OSHA visited then, right?
ENGELBRECHT: Yes sir.
JORDAN: In the first 20 years of business did the [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] ever come to your business?
ENGELBRECHT: No sir.
JORDAN: And they came a couple times once you filed your application?
ENGELBRECHT: Yes sir.
JORDAN: And in your first 20 years of business, did the IRS ever audit you?
ENGELBRECHT: No sir.
JORDAN: But once you filed your application, they audited you?
ENGELBRECHT: Many times.
JORDAN: And in your first 20 years of business, did the FBI ever visit you?
ENGELBRECHT: No sir.
JORDAN: But once you filed your application, did they visit you?
ENGELBRECHT: Six times.
Jordan made his final point: “Mr. Connolly wants us to believes that’s all a coincidence.”…
Read the whole thing. Watch the video at the link.
Catherine Engelbrecht, Jay Sekulow and others testified to Congress. Gulag Bound has nearly two hours of video from C-SPAN at the link.
True the Vote founder files ethics complaint against House Dem for intimidation
…“Congressman Cummings on three separate occasions sent letters on letterhead from this committee, stating that he had concerns and felt it necessary to open an investigation on True the Vote,” Engelbrecht testified at the hearing.
After she applied for tax-exempt status, she said, “an assortment of federal entities including law enforcement agencies, and Congressman Cummings came knocking at my door.”…
Read the whole thing.
‘Caught Red-Handed’: Sekulow Details New ‘Smoking Gun’ IRS Emails
Jay Sekulow, chief counsel at the American Center for Law and Justice, testified before a House committee yesterday on the IRS scandal. He’s representing 41 of the conservative groups that say they were illegally targeted by the IRS…
…”Legally, the IRS has been caught red-handed and the American people and certainly our plaintiffs are not taking it lying down,” said Sekulow. He believes a special prosecutor must be called on to investigate, since the head of the current probe has been found to be a big Obama campaign donor.
“When you see these emails and you understand what’s in them, you realize the highest level of the IRS was conspiring with Lois Lerner at least a year before this scandal broke. And what they’ve attempted to do now is just cover their tracks.” …
