It has taken nearly two months, but the next big batch of information is coming out about the actions at the IRS to unfairly target conservative groups, Christians, Jews and pro-life groups. There is going to be a hearing today in Washington where all the details will be set forth. Right now, though, we know this much:
1. Within the IRS, the activities to target groups like the Tea Party were directed from Washington. According to what Congress has uncovered, the IRS office of the chief counsel was directly involved all along. This is extremely significant. The IRS chief counsel is the only place in the IRS where there are political appointments. That means that only in the IRS chief counsel office are their folks who owe their jobs to president Obama rather than to civil service positions. In many ways, the IRS chief counsel functions as the White House's main representative at the agency. And it was these folks, Obama's main representatives at the IRS, who were directly involved in running the attacks on the Tea Party and Obama's other political opponents.
2. Lois Lerner, the suspended IRS official who testified to her innocence but then refused to answer questions, was also directly involved in running the attack. She is due back before Congress today and they will tell her that she waived her ability to take the Fifth when she began to testify previously. Most likely Lerner will still refuse to answer, but she will then get held in contempt of Congress and will end up in a criminal proceeding. Hopefully, she will get to see the inside of a jail before too long.
3. Investigators are still proceeding forward with their tasks. In the next month, they will interview the folks high up at the IRS and move on to people at the Treasury Department. We may soon know if the Obama re-election campaign was really the ones running the attack on the Tea Party.
Today's hearing should be extremely interesting.
1. Within the IRS, the activities to target groups like the Tea Party were directed from Washington. According to what Congress has uncovered, the IRS office of the chief counsel was directly involved all along. This is extremely significant. The IRS chief counsel is the only place in the IRS where there are political appointments. That means that only in the IRS chief counsel office are their folks who owe their jobs to president Obama rather than to civil service positions. In many ways, the IRS chief counsel functions as the White House's main representative at the agency. And it was these folks, Obama's main representatives at the IRS, who were directly involved in running the attacks on the Tea Party and Obama's other political opponents.
2. Lois Lerner, the suspended IRS official who testified to her innocence but then refused to answer questions, was also directly involved in running the attack. She is due back before Congress today and they will tell her that she waived her ability to take the Fifth when she began to testify previously. Most likely Lerner will still refuse to answer, but she will then get held in contempt of Congress and will end up in a criminal proceeding. Hopefully, she will get to see the inside of a jail before too long.
3. Investigators are still proceeding forward with their tasks. In the next month, they will interview the folks high up at the IRS and move on to people at the Treasury Department. We may soon know if the Obama re-election campaign was really the ones running the attack on the Tea Party.
Today's hearing should be extremely interesting.
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