The transcripts of interviews with IRS personnel in Cincinnati are revealing further evidence that is quite damning to the IRS and the Obama Administration. Today's new bit of truth shows that another part of the story (or should I say cover story) that we had been told is untrue. Perhaps the best way to explain this is to quote the relelvant part of the story in Reuters discussing the transcripts:
The transcripts show that in July 2010, Elizabeth Hofacre, an IRS official in Cincinnati who was coordinating "emerging issues" for the agency's tax-exempt unit, was corresponding with Washington-based IRS tax attorney Carter Hull.
In April 2010 Hofacre had been put in charge of handling tax-exempt status applications from conservative groups by her Cincinnati supervisor.
She was asked to summarize her initial findings in a spreadsheet and notify a small group of colleagues, including some staff in the Washington tax-exempt unit. However, she sent her email to a larger number of people in Washington by accident.
"Everybody in DC got it by mistake," Hofacre said in the transcripts. She later clarified that she did not mean all officials but those in the IRS Exempt Organizations Rulings and Agreements unit.
So, in the first half of 2010, every person in the IRS Exempt Organizations Rulings and Agreements unit in Washington was sent a detailed report about the special treatment of conservative groups and individuals. Among others, that included the unit's director, Lois Lerner of Fifth Amendment fame who previously said that she only learned of the practice in 2011 and immediately stopped it. We now know that Lerner's version of when she first learned of the practice and her response to that information were just lies. No wonder she took the Fifth. Lerner, however, is small stuff compared to what this testimony really means. The idea that it was Cincinnati agents doing this on their own is now shot to hell. The huge IRS Washington establishment was given a detailed rundown on the persecution of conservatives and, at a minimum, let it continue. Remember, these are IRS agents, a group for whom the world revolves around what best could be called "CYA". Without a doubt, anyone who got that Hofacre email and who thought it even the least bit suspicious sent a memo or another email to his or her superior or to some other appropriate office to report those suspicions. My guess is that if the bureaucracy functioned normally, half of the IRS knew within a week or two of the persecution of conservatives.
The transcripts show that in July 2010, Elizabeth Hofacre, an IRS official in Cincinnati who was coordinating "emerging issues" for the agency's tax-exempt unit, was corresponding with Washington-based IRS tax attorney Carter Hull.
In April 2010 Hofacre had been put in charge of handling tax-exempt status applications from conservative groups by her Cincinnati supervisor.
She was asked to summarize her initial findings in a spreadsheet and notify a small group of colleagues, including some staff in the Washington tax-exempt unit. However, she sent her email to a larger number of people in Washington by accident.
"Everybody in DC got it by mistake," Hofacre said in the transcripts. She later clarified that she did not mean all officials but those in the IRS Exempt Organizations Rulings and Agreements unit.
So, in the first half of 2010, every person in the IRS Exempt Organizations Rulings and Agreements unit in Washington was sent a detailed report about the special treatment of conservative groups and individuals. Among others, that included the unit's director, Lois Lerner of Fifth Amendment fame who previously said that she only learned of the practice in 2011 and immediately stopped it. We now know that Lerner's version of when she first learned of the practice and her response to that information were just lies. No wonder she took the Fifth. Lerner, however, is small stuff compared to what this testimony really means. The idea that it was Cincinnati agents doing this on their own is now shot to hell. The huge IRS Washington establishment was given a detailed rundown on the persecution of conservatives and, at a minimum, let it continue. Remember, these are IRS agents, a group for whom the world revolves around what best could be called "CYA". Without a doubt, anyone who got that Hofacre email and who thought it even the least bit suspicious sent a memo or another email to his or her superior or to some other appropriate office to report those suspicions. My guess is that if the bureaucracy functioned normally, half of the IRS knew within a week or two of the persecution of conservatives.
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