Congressional investigators are working to determine if other parts of the Obama administration were involved in the abusive and potentially illegal IRS targeting of conservative organizations, a probe that could cause problems dwarfing anything else the White House is facing.
Any knowledge, approval or direction of IRS abuses at senior levels of the administration would turn the rumblings of scandal into an earthquake. Any link to the president could be grounds for impeachment.
Let’s be clear, at the moment, this is speculative. There is absolutely no evidence that President Obama or anyone in the White House knew about the IRS targeting of conservatives. But investigators are taking a serious look at whether this goes beyond the IRS. And unlike Benghazi, where the issues are murkier, everyone in the United States understands clearly that the IRS must not be used for partisan purposes.
According to the New York Times, investigators are probing whether there are links between the IRS targeting and the Department of Treasury – which oversees the IRS – and from perhaps from there into other parts of the administration.
From the piece:
House and Senate aides said they were focusing on an Aug. 4, 2011, meeting in which the I.R.S.’s chief counsel appears to have conferred with agency officials to discuss the activities of a team in the Cincinnati field office that had been subjecting applications for tax-exempt status from Tea Party and other conservative groups to a greater degree of review than those from other organizations.
Under I.R.S. rules, the agency’s chief counsel, William J. Wilkins, reports to the Treasury Department’s general counsel, and investigators want to determine if Mr. Wilkins took the issue out of the independent I.R.S. to other parts of the Obama administration.
If the inquiry determines any new link to the administration, it could change the political equation for the White House, which has stressed the I.R.S.’s independence even as President Obama has castigated the agency over the allegations of political bias. A bipartisan investigation by the Senate Finance Committee built steam on Tuesday, and the House Ways and Means Committee prepared for the first hearing on the matter on Friday with an extensive request for documents from the I.R.S. The House Oversight Committee formally accused one I.R.S. official of misleading lawmakers on four occasions.
“What we don’t know at this point is whether it jumped the fence from the I.R.S. to the White House,” said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader. “But we do know this: we can’t count on the administration to be forthcoming about the details of this scandal, because so far they’ve been anything but.”
Washington is a very porous town. People talk casually and formally about all kinds of matters, great and small. It’s very hard to imagine that something as explosive as the IRS targeting of Obama’s most dangerous political enemies – conservative attack groups raising millions in political money – was kept solely within the IRS.
We’ve already been deceived on this by contentions the operation was based solely within Cincinnati. What else are they hiding?
How far it went beyond the IRS is anyone’s guess. But it has to be more than a guess. And if investigators are dogged and the press does its job – the latter a dubious assumption, but possible in the wake of DOJ’s targeting of the AP – facts will soon replace guesswork.
93 thoughts on “The Big Question: Is the White House Linked to IRS Abuses?”
Executive Branch:
Problems at the State Department? Check.
Problems at the Internal Revenue Service? Check.
Problems at the Justice Department? Check.
The President has no knowledge of anything that goes on, ever. Didn’t know about the whistleblowers, didn’t know about the partisan politics, didn’t know about the subpoenas.
Suddenly Joe Biden looks like the sharpest one there.
Scott, your last line sums up the true impact to our country. We are in a HEAP of trouble!
The front page of the Boston Herald yesterday had a full page photo of Obama with three words in big letters: I DON’T KNOW. Either lying or completely incompetent.
Yeah, but he’s America’s “present”…
How can it be low-level employees ? It’s not like they look for more work to do and the questions asked the orgs sounded deeply, deeply political.
This happened under Turbo Tax Timmy’s gig with Treasury too, never did trust him … or how he got through confirmation since he couldn’t even do his own taxes properly.
The more I learn, the madder I get. Would love to see a full investigation on the OFA donors, and what incentives they were given for sweet, sweet cash.
How can it be low-level employees ? It’s not like they look for more work to do and the questions asked the orgs sounded deeply, deeply political.
SNIP
**************
EXCELLENT point, DeniseVB!
Yes, yes, yes on your suggestion.
low level employees asking about Donors?
I don’t think so.
Of course I’m still trying to figure out who the low level employees were that called for the “stand down” of the military fighter planes?
Apparently the secys are running the joint–and I don’t mean cabinet secys.
When high-ranking Senators such as SenSchumer and others send letters to the IRS demanding that they investigate tea party organizations, then it’s the Democrats, the political party of the President, that wanted conservative groups harassed, not the WhiteHouse.
The President’s re-election wasn’t very threatened by tea party or conservative activists. Those groups were targeting candidates for Congress and it was in Congress that alarms and fear of these groups that prompted the unconstitutional demand of illegal oversight by the IRS.
Of course, the President has a great interest in the makeup of the Congress. The conservative groups were powerful enough to eliminate the majority votes that he enjoyed for two years, but there won’t be any incriminating recordings, or papers that connect the WhiteHouse with this issue.
The damning evidence falls directly on the Democrat members of Congress who used their power and influence to intimidate the IRS into abusing their power for partisan political gain. That’s where the calls for impeachment should rest; at the feet of the Democrats.
I saw that story on Fox. One of my Senators, Jeff Merkley Dem. OR, is supposed to have signed on to that order to the IRS. He was one of eight, and he is up for re-election in 2014. As Sarah Palin likes to say, “His goose is cooked.”
You really think they will remember this a year from now? I don’t think most voters are that long sighted…
Well it will be up to his opponent to jog their memories, but there’s always a risk that they will say, “So what?”
There is no such thing as “So what” when it comes to the IRS. First they came for the Tea Party, etc.
I would put that front and center in the attack ads. “If Merkley can order the IRS to go after his enemies, could he order them to go after you?”
Anyone who’s ever had to deal with the IRS would nod in agreement…and vote for the GOP. Even in Oregon.
I also feel they need to take a deeper look into BO’s re-election committee / staff. If you look at the type of data pulled / provided by the IRS to members of the DNC, OFA and possibly other organizations, the campaign always touted their state of the art IT work. Granted some was from ground pounding, but I always thought it was strange that people like Cutter and Axelrod always had some major inside information when it came to RNC and Tea Party sources.
Now with that said, take a look at his campaign re-election staff. Jim Messina, Peter Newell, David Axelrod, David Simas, Julianna Smoot, Stephanie Cutter, Rachel Cohen,Robert Gibbs. Each one of these members were WH senior staff to BO before the election, and have continued into the new OFA. The OFA received a fast tracked IRS 501(c)(4) exemption, as long as they do not interfere or influence an election (yea right).
So I do hope they look in this direction. I believe there is too many coincidences on how much info/data the campaign had. The people in his re-election had close ties to BO. For him to say he had no idea is not washing with me. I would say one other organization may have played a roll in the data mining, anyone care to guess who?? Bueller?? Bueller??
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/05/14/Obama-campaign-co-chair-attacked-Romney-conservative-group-in-2012-with-leaked-IRS-scandal-documents
Top of Drudge right now, here we go. This is really too much, my head is spinning.
!
There are several of us here at WHD sitting on an abundance of duct tape for EHS (exploding head syndrome). However, not sure that will help your SHS (spinning head syndrome).
Good luck with that.
perhaps it’s not the SHS… the “world” itself is spininng out of control creating the illusion of such.
…the more I drink the “world” seems to spin less
El Presidente said that if this happened [and of course it did] then “it is contrary to our traditions.” How ironic to hear the fundamental transformer refer to tradition (and the Constitutional lawyer neglect to mention the law)!
And just for the record, The Husband and I helped organize a Tax Day Tea Party protest in April 2009; he spoke at the event and was quoted in the media. Shortly thereafter we were audited by the IRS for the first time in nearly 40 years of filing returns. It could have been random, or they may have targeted us “by mistake,” but we got the message, loud and clear.
The good old Mail Online from the UK is reporting hat the IRS ordered a conservative educational group (Linchpins of Liberty) to turn over a list of high school and college students it had trained, that is, the names of minors without parental consent.
We made a donation to the Young Republicans. YEP! Got audited for the first time in 50 years!
When a President of the United States of America shows up on a Spanish language radio show in Los Angeles hosted by a popular illegal alien disc jockey and tells his audience to ‘punish your enemies’ at the voting booth – I believe he will say or do anything to maintain power. It was a Freudian slip of the tongue, but make no mistake- this is how Obama operates – Chicago style!
Obama is beholden to only one god – Saul Alinsky. He is a ruthless, power-hungry megalomaniac with no conscience who will throw rhis country and any perceived enemy, i.e. Republican, under the bus to save his own thin skin, He lies with impunity. What better example than Benghazi?
This is a dangerous man – a man with no principles who never, ever should have been allowed to step foot in the WH. The WH is now infested – over-running with his operatives who get their marching orders from Valerie Jarrett.
Keep beating the drums – don’t give up! Obama will fold like a cheap suit once he sees that he has been exposed. If we are lucky, he will resign; if not, he will be impeached! What we are seeing now is only the tip of the iceberg. This man is the enemy within.
Girly !, I so much agree with you, I feel like crying when I hear how anti-American this Administration is, every day, After the Boston bombing Holder had the nerve to lecture us Americans that we better not retaliate against Muslims, he said that RIGHT AFTER our fellow Americans were kiled and maimed with legs and arms flying from the bombs! and Holder and Obama were only worried that we would retaliate? These two are not for us thats for sure, they are only for select groups of people. I pray ever day that they will get the hell out of our government.
From an old Watergate era cartoon:
If the President knew of the cover up why is he still in office?
If the President didn’t know of the cover up why is he still in office?
Excellent post.
I remember that cartoon.. and it’s on target.
The Big Question: Is the White House Linked to IRS Abuses?
SNIP
***************
Does a cat have a climbing gear?
and why were conservative groups stonewalled for years, while a “charity” run by Obama’s brother not only got extreme fast track (something like one month to approve), but also got the past two years retroactively approved (which, by the way, is against the law)?
Conservative documents get blocked, liberal documents slide right through. Unless those documents are damaging and most likely sealed. Like two of Obama’s political campaigns, Romney’s tax records, etc. etc……
I knew about the fast track but not about the retroactive issue.
We need a smoking memo.
Obama and Carney are already lying about it. Obama said “I just found out about in the papers , I THINK IT WAS FRIDAY”. He then played golf Saturday. If he was so outraged, wouldn’t he have issued a statement Saturday A.M? Carney said “the administration was notified in April”. No one thought to tell the President? He joked about having the IRS audit the President of Arizona State. I guarantee he ordered it. Why would anyone give this incessant liar the benefit of the doubt? The house of cards is crumbling.
I’ve come to realize, since Bill Clinton, lying to anyone is just a normal everyday activity. Like our so called leaders taking a crap and wiping their A**hole with the Constitution. As his spouse would say “What difference does it make.”.
I had a conversation about this just the other day. During the Clinton presidency, morality didn’t seem to matter as much. How much money you had did. It didn’t matter if you screwed everyone over to get that money either – if you had it, you were successful. The me, myself and I era began. I remember when hillary gave us permission on 60 minutes not to vote for him if we thought he was a cheater. We should have taken her advise because he was/is a cheater. Code of ethics or the lack of begin at the top and trickle down.
It has always seemed to me that a lack of morality, ethics and honesty were necessary character traits for progressives. The ends always justify the means which leads to abuse of power such as sicking the IRS on political opponents who they view as enemies who must be punished.
One of the key problems with Obama is that he views over half the country as his enemies who are ignorant, racist and evil, not fellow citizens who have a difference of opinion.
I hope they can prove barry knew about this. One thing is for certain – those “underlings” were quite clear on what was/is expected of them. Whether barry knew about this specifically or not. Scary thing is, I’m sure all “underlings” in all government agencies are doing the same thing. There is an understanding on what they can do, what they are expected to do. In any corporation, agency, etc. the code of ethics begins at the stop. Underlings catch on very soon – if they want to keep their jobs but as mentioned in the subject of this thread – catching them is another thing. If only they had someone on the inside willing to do what is right for the country and step forward with some solid proof.
duh me “top” not “stop”
“But officer, I didn’t know this was stolen property” won’t get you off the hook on the charge of receiving stolen property.
“But Senator, I didn’t order the IRS to harass my enemies. You have no paper trail!” shouldn’t get Obeyme off the hook on the charge of using the IRS to harass his enemies.
Ignorance is no defense here. If he ordered it, he obviously needs to go for malice; if he was babe-in-the-woods ignorant about it, then he needs to be removed for negligence and incompetence.
And they are going after Jewish groups supporting Israel. A representative of an educational group called Z Street–I think her name was Marcus–said that the IRS told the organization that it was investigating it because it expressed a ‘different point of view’ from the administration. So, does that mean they take a pro-Israel stance in opposition to the Obama administration’s pro-Muslim ‘rebels’ stance? Interesting phrase, ‘different point of view.’
Hard to believe that all of these instances are the work of a couple of lowly rogues.
Had to be someone high up on the food chain to obtain Romney’s tax records. Obama knew about that as it was used by his campaign staff to throw mud at Romney… So it would seem it started at least a couple of years before the 2012 election.
OF COURSE the WH was in on it. This is Chicago / Alinsky tactics 101. Now whether it will ever matter is a different question……
This clearly came from the White House political operation. The relevant question is can we prove it and will the media pursue it or cover it up.
My guess is that the media will sweep it under the rug and blame it on a few rogue staffers as they do everything else.
They won’t be able to. Even the 47% still have to file their returns to get their refunds. EVERYONE knows about the IRS. And even the lumpen electorate knows it’s wrong to use the IRS to go after your enemies.
This one’s got legs.
I sincerely hope that any investigations also target Valerie Jarrett. She is in on this neck deep. A vile, disgusting excuse for a human being.
John Boehner:
“My question is not who’s going to resign; my question is who’s going to jail!”
Put your money where your mouth is, Mr. Speaker!
Oh, I hope so !
I lose hope every time Boehner, McCarthy and Cantor take the stage. Such an uninspiring, wimpy trio! Cringeworthy.
Still, these are all we have to fight back–Cruz maybe, the Republican leadership, McCain, Rubio, a few others–so we better quit pecking at them.
We are getting what we voted for. I hope once all this corruption and sleaze surfaces the American people will drain the swamp starting with barry and continuing with hillary. Sleaze is just another name for Clinton
USA Today put together a list of groups the IRS approved while they were sitting on tea party applications ….
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/05/14/irs-tea-party-progressive-groups/2158831/
I smell “stinky feet” Obama all over this.
If Obama’s DOJ hadn’t played dirty with the AP, perhaps they wouldn’t be losing the media so fast. What’s really disturbing is all these other people coming forward to report they were audited by the IRS – the reporter, Romney donors and a Catholic professor, just to name a few. And the co-chair of the Obama campaign used IRS audit information to attack Romney on NOM. This is criminal and somebody needs to go to jail, just as they did for Watergate.
If this turns out to be a criminal case, I would offer immunity to all parties involved if they would testify against Obama and Jarrett.
Yes!
I believe this was done and yes somebody needs to go to jail.
AZ – I just wrote a reply to SRDEM on the same topic above. And I do believe it was more than just the co-chair. His re-election staff was 99% former senior WH staff and some of them used the IRS info during the campaign against not only Romney but I would bet other races in the states. This is criminal electioneering. No slap on the wrists, no presidential pardons, no firings. This was illegal, but then, so are undocumented immigrants.
Pass the popcorn..
criminal electioneering — heh.
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The CEO of any organization sets the tone for what type of behavior is acceptable in his/her departments. From the beginning, Obama has fostered a divisive ‘us against them’ environment in the government. With his appointment of a multitude of czars who had no congressional oversight and whose loyalty was sworn not to the Constitution but to Obama, he made it clear that he was not working to preserve America as founded, but for her fundamental transformation. I’m still not clear what he’s transforming us into, but it sure is starting to look like a third world banana republic.
Obama may not have created the leviathan, but he is responsible for every action taken by the bureaucracies under his control from the moment he took his first oath of office. He may not have personally ordered any illegal or unconstitutional acts, but by his own words, he encouraged his subordinates to violate our Constitution and abuse the power we entrusted them with.
Republicans turned against one of their own when he abused the power of the office of president. Will the Democrats do the same? Not if their goal is the same as Obama’s – fundamental transformation of our system of government. These are very dangerous times in America.
Obama may not have created the leviathan, but he is responsible for every action taken by the bureaucracies under his control from the moment he took his first oath of office.
Exactly! If they knew the IRS tthing for weeks, and really did not tell him, then he at some pt said “leave me out of this stuff.” That alone is dereliction. This “don’t look at me” stuff is wearing tissue thin.
Susan, in the military when you are placed in a command position / billet, the one thing you always have to remember is – Ultimate Responsibility. It is drilled into you head at command school. And you ARE held accountable for subordinate members actions even if you had no knowledge of incidents happening under your command. It’s not a slap on the wrist either.
I believe BO should take a lesson from his military commanders and take a bow.
There was a case in Afghanistan many years ago when a truck lost its brakes coming down a hill. Civilians were killed, riots broke out, you know, usual drill in the barbarian lands.
Now, the CO of that unit wasn’t the guy who worked on the brakes; but as the CO, he took the fall for it, and his career has since ended.
One hopes the same fate befalls Sir Golfsalot.
The white house is linked to everything
And the beat goes on…….
http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/irs-face-lawsuit-over-theft-60-million-patient-health-records
OT. Pull one thread and the ball starts to unravel. I would like to see similar investigation of abuse of power at DHS and HHS.
Perhaps it is a good thing that Obama went Chicago big and had all his little mafia wannabes throughout — it might be easier to get to the bottom of the rot that is this Administration if it is done Department by Department.
Don’t need him gone so much as neutered and no longer a threat to the
safety and freedoms of the country.
and oh yeah, Departments of Education and Energy.
Don’t forget the EPA. Remember, they leaked info on farmers to whacked out environmental groups.
gracepc.. name one cabinet / department NOT in the news or on the hot seat ;-)
I never thought I would see the day when traitors to the U.S. are running the country! Obama and Holder must be connected to the three scandals. Who else would want to hurt and intimidate Americans by the IRS to hold on to their distorted version of dictatorship and power. They act like they are a branch of the NAACP rather than the President and head of the Justice Department. These are very sick people in charge hell bent on hurting white people for things that happened in the past. They do not live in the present with all the people.
Pingback: Mitch McConnell: “Culture Of Intimidation” Throughout Administration in the same breathe and in the same sentence that he contradicts that claim, by saying that those facts are not in yet….Heeeelllo….mcfly…mcfly….who vo
Pingback: Mitch McConnell: “Culture Of Intimidation” Throughout Administration in the same breathe and in the same sentence that he contradicts that claim, by saying that those facts are not in yet….Heeeelllo….mcfly…mcfly….who vo
Pingback: Mitch McConnell: “Culture Of Intimidation” Throughout Administration in the same breathe and in the same sentence that he contradicts that claim, by saying that those facts are not in yet….Heeeelllo….mcfly…mcfly….who vo
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