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Friday, July 24, 2015

Yes, IRS Did Target Tea Party And Other Conservative Groups

House chairman: Documents

 prove IRS 'political targeting' of conservatives

The chairman of the top House committee probing the 
IRS political witch hunt of President Obama's foes said 
documents prove that the agency targeted conservatives 
and then tried to destroy the evidence and he promised 
"news" on the panel's investigation next week.
"I promise you – there will be news on the IRS side
 as early as next week. So stay tuned," said Rep. 
Jason Chaffetz, chair of the House Oversight and 
Government Reform Committee.
Chaffetz this week detailed elements of his panel's
 probe in an address to the Ripon Society in 
Washington, accusing the IRS of violating a 
House subpoena in destroying evidence and 
mocking President Obama's claim on Jon 
Stewart's Comedy Channel show that "the
real scandal around the IRS" is 
underfunding the agency.
"Probably the biggest thing our committee 
is looking at is the IRS," said the Utah 
lawmaker. "You have political targeting that
 is factual at this point. There are no ifs, 
ands or buts. You had groups within the 
IRS who were politically targeting conservatives
 and impeding their First Amendment rights," he added.
MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
What's more, because the panel sought documents 
from the IRS when the targeting of Tea Party and 
other conservative groups made headlines, there
 is still information coming out about the episode.
"You're going to continue to hear more about this.
 Because when the targeting became evident, the 
Oversight and Government Reform Committee put
 in place a subpoena for the documents – a small
 window of Lois Lerner's e-mails. Internally, the
 IRS put a preservation order in place -- don't 
destroy or get rid of any of these documents. 
These documents and e-mails were in the
possession of the IRS. And on March 4, 2014, 
they destroyed them" he said.
"Imagine if the IRS had given you a summons 
for you to produce documents. You had them
 in your possession, and then you destroyed them. 
What would happen to you? Do you think they 
would say, 'Oh, darn it!' No, which is why Congress
 has to stand up for itself. You cannot -- with a duly 
issued subpoena and eternal preservation order 
in place -- go out and destroy documents and say
 there is no consequence to that; nobody's going 
to be held accountable, and nobody is at fault.
"And yet that's essentially what we've heard from
 the President, who has said repeatedly there is 
not even a 'smidgeon' of corruption. He was on 
the Daily Show with Jon Stewart the other night 
and said, 'You know what the real scandal is? The 
real scandal is that the IRS is underfunded. They 
need more agents, more people, and Congress
 passed a bad law.' You know this ridiculous 
law the president is talking about? It was 
passed in 1913. He makes it look as if we had 
passed this law. That little detail he said on 
the Daily Show, you're going to see that 
surface. We will continue to pursue this, 
and I promise you – there will be news 
on the IRS side as early as next week. So stay tuned."
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can
 be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com.

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