IRS scandal hits 3 month mark -- where's the accountability, Mr. Obama?

Saturday, August 10 marks the third month of the IRS scandal.

On May10, when Lois Lerner, the former Director of the IRS Exempt Organizations Division, answered a question at a legal conference – a question she arranged to have asked in advance -- she clearly had no idea what would happen next.

When she admitted that the IRS had targeted conservative groups, simply because of their political beliefs, she touched off a national firestorm. Her inept attempt to apologize for the Agency’s blunder, and put it to rest, backfired.

In the past three months, we have learned that the Obama administration repeatedly tried to downplay this unlawful targeting scheme which is an unprecedented breach of the public’s trust by the IRS.

We also know that the scandal continues to expand. And we know that the Obama administration is doing very little to get to the bottom of what happened, despite the president's promise to the American people that the administration would “hold the responsible parties accountable.”

Today, after all this time, it’s clear that the Obama administration isn't really interested in the facts about how this could happen at the IRS or about holding anyone accountable.

In fact, President Obama has moved on, calling the IRS targeting scheme a “phony” scandal and acting as if corrective action has been taken and problem solved.

Not so fast.

From the beginning, the facts did not square with the excuses offered up to the American public by the Obama administration.

It did not take long to punch holes in the IRS’ story that the scheme to target conservatives began in a small office run by just a couple of rogue agents.

In our lawsuit against the IRS, on behalf of 41 conservative organizations in 22 states, the evidence is very clear: documents have revealed that IRS offices coast-to-coast were involved in the scheme, including Lois Lerner herself! In fact, she sent more than a dozen letters to conservative organizations asking them intrusive and inappropriate questions.

The White House has also claimed that the unconstitutional targeting of conservative organizations ended in May 2012. Again, our documents clearly show that the IRS abuse continued through May of 2013 with the most recent letter dated May 6, 2013 – just four days before Lerner's admission.

And we now know, thanks to the testimony of former IRS attorneys, that the office of the IRS Chief Counsel (a political presidential appointee) was involved in the scheme, too. This testimony raises important questions about President Obama’s knowledge or involvement in the scheme.

Now, there’s new information to suggest that the IRS may have been providing taxpayer information to the Federal Election Commission, something that violates federal law and the IRS's own regulations.

An FEC commissioner says he has seen previously undisclosed emails between the IRS and FEC about the targeting scheme. And lawmakers are now demanding the FEC turn over records of more than five years of communications with the IRS.

All of this information comes as the Obama administration continues to stonewall Congress about the scandal -- providing just a fraction of the information requested.

Noting the three month mark since the scandal began, Reps. Darrell Issa (Calif.) and Dave Camp (Mich.), chairmen of the House committees on Oversight and Ways and Means have voiced their concern, saying in a statement, “The American people demand and deserve accountability from their government, not to live in fear of being subject to an audit or other extra scrutiny for reasons unrelated to the content of their filing. So far, the IRS and this administration have provided no assurances that oversight and accountability is in place to prevent such abuses from happening again.”

The president did order the new Acting IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel to conduct a 30-day review of the IRS scandal. Yes, you read that right, just a 30-day review to investigate a scheme that had been underway for years. It’s no surprise that Werfel claims the 30-day review turned up no “evidence of intentional wrongdoing by anyone in the IRS.”

It’s been 3 months since the American public learned about this outrageous behavior by the IRS. No one has been fired. Lerner and a handful of others are on leave and still being paid.

And what has happened to the investigations underway by the FBI and Department of Justice? Three months later, not one of our clients has been contacted by investigators at the FBI or Justice Department.

It’s difficult to imagine how anyone could claim that a thorough investigation -- or any investigation for that matter – has been conducted without even bothering to interview the taxpayers who were targeted.

So, the IRS scandal continues. It’s been three months and counting. The last three months have produced many more questions and very few answers.

Where’s the accountability, Mr. President?

Jay Sekulow is Chief Counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ). Follow him on Twitter@JaySekulow.


SOURCE http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/08/08/irs-scandal-hits-3-month-mark-where-accountability-mr-obama/

Radical Muslim Brotherhood Gets More US Tax Dollars Despite Terror Ties

The news from Egypt is grim.

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood president, Mohammed Morsi, made international headlines this week as he appointed Adel Al Khayat as governor of Luxor, an ancient Egyptian city that is key tourist destination.

The problem with Mr. Khayat? He just happens to lead the “political” arm of a terrorist organization that massacred tourists in Luxor in 1997. The details of the attack are beyond grisly, with many of the dead disemboweled and notes “praising Islam” placed inside their mutilated bodies.

And that’s not all.

On Tuesday, the New York Times reported on the rise of blasphemy prosecutions since Morsi ascended to power.

In recent cases, Egyptian courts have sentenced a writer to five years in prison for allegedly promoting atheism, sentenced a lawyer to a year in prison for allegedly insulting Islam in a private conversation, and fined a Christian schoolteacher $14,000 for allegedly insulting Muhammad in her classroom.

These recent revelations pile on top of the “old” news, including violations of the peace treaty with Israel, failing to protect our American embassy from attacks and launching systematic crackdowns on Egypt’s Coptic Christian community.

Against this backdrop of Shariah and jihad—and hidden behind the blanket news coverage of the Obama administration’s other scandals—the White House has decided to increase its financial support for the Muslim Brotherhood, quietly clearing the way for the U.S. to give Egypt $1.3 billion in military aid.

On May 10, the very day that Lois Lerner issued her contrived apology for the IRS targeting conservative groups, Secretary of State John Kerry formally waived—on national security grounds—statutory requirements that he certify that Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood government was “implementing policies to protect freedom of expression, association, and religion, and due process of law” before providing any further American military aid.

Think about this for a moment: The Obama administration threw the Mubarak regime (for all its flaws, a stalwart American ally that kept peace with Israel) under the bus ostensibly because of its human rights violations but is waiving human rights conditions to prop up a more brutal jihadist government.

Let’s not forget the motto of the Muslim Brotherhood: "Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Quran is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope."

That is the organization that we are empowering—that we are arming—at American taxpayer expense.

In the coming days and weeks, secular and Christian opposition leaders are planning nationwide protests against a Morsi regime that has proven competent at implementing Shariah law but not at running an economy.

Morsi’s jihadist allies plan a crackdown, and if and when they succeed, you may see the terrible sight of American-made and taxpayer-purchased tanks and other armored vehicles literally crushing the Christian opposition.

The saying goes that there is “no better friend and no worse enemy” than a United States Marine.

The Obama administration has turned this on its head. When it comes to the Middle East, we have proven to be the worst of friends and the best of enemies.

We sat on our hands during Iran’s Green Revolution, when the Mullahs were briefly in danger of being overthrown.

We similarly sat on our hands in the early days of the Syrian uprising against the brutal, Iran-allied Assad regime, before jihadists had taken over the Syrian opposition.

But we acted quickly to support the Egyptian uprising, tossing aside a longtime ally.

Across the Middle East, jihad is ascendant. The Mullahs remain comfortably in power in Iran (busy building a bomb), Syria’s opposition is dominated by al-Qaida-affiliated militias, and Egypt is firmly in the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood.

And now we’re arming Egypt and considering arming jihadist rebels in Syria.

The Obama administration is doubling down on failure—at the expense of Egyptian Christians and the American taxpayer.

Jay Sekulow is chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice. This article originally appeared on FoxNews.com


SOURCE http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/39997-radical-muslim-brotherhood-gets-more-us-tax-dollars-despite-terror-ties

The puzzling, intrusive questions the IRS asked conservative groups we represent

Lois Lerner is the director of the exempt organizations division at the IRS. Friday, she dropped a bombshell when she told reporters, that “absolutely inappropriate” actions were undertaken by “front-line people” located in Cincinnati who went rogue and searched out groups with “Tea Party” and “Patriot” in their tax exemption applications and then put those groups through a special, intrusive process.

Now we have learned that Lerner knew about the targeting as early as 2011.

But Congress and the America public didn’t know until just before the weekend.

We also learned more from a draft of the Inspector General’s report that was released in the media over the weekend. The draft provides a comprehensive timeline for the IRS scandal.

The targeting actually began before the 2010 mid-term elections and appears far more widespread than the IRS first reported. It turns out that it’s not just Tea Party groups, but Jewish organizations and even some groups that study and discuss the U.S. Constitution were targeted.

But there’s more, much more, to this scandal than detailed in the IG report.  At the American Center for Law and Justice, we’ve represented 27 conservative organizations, from 18 states.  Here’s what we’ve learned:

First, the scandal was hardly localized with rogue agents in Cincinnati.  At the ACLJ alone, we’ve also dealt with offices in Washington, D.C., Laguna Niguel, California, and El Monte, California.

Second – and here’s what the mainstream media is missing – the questions asked the conservative groups were unconstitutionally intrusive.  Here’s one example:

Do you directly or indirectly communicate with members of legislative bodies?  If so, provide copies of the written communications and contents of other forms of communications.

What is an “indirect” communication?  A newspaper article that a legislator might read?  A speech a legislator’s spouse might attend?  The question is impossibly broad and vague.

Here’s another example:

List each past or present board member, officer, key employee and members of their families who:

a) Has served on the board of another organization.

b) Was, is or plans to be a candidate for public office.  Indicate the nature of each candidacy.

c) Has previously conducted similar activities for another entity.

d) Has previously submitted an application for tax exempt status.

So now the spouses, parents, and children of conservative leaders are under scrutiny?

Or, how about this:

Do you have a close relationship with any candidate for public office or political party?  If so describe fully the nature of that relationship.

These questions read like a wish list for far-left activists trying to examine every aspect of the conservative grassroots movement and chill or intimidate activists into silence.  Imagine if the IRS had similarly targeted the Occupy Wally Street movement or labor unions or environmentalist groups, the outcry -- from the beginning -- would have been overwhelming.

Third, the IRS abuse is ongoing.  Even though the IRS admitted wrongdoing, even though the Inspector General’s report indicates that wrongdoing was widespread, the IRS still hasn’t withdrawn its overbroad and unconstitutional questions, and it still hasn’t granted the exemptions it should grant, despite the fact that some applications have been pending for more than two years.

At the ACLJ we sent the IRS a letter demanding that it grant tax exemptions for all pending applications for our clients, and we also demanded that the IRS hold accountable all those responsible for its unconstitutional policy and actions.

I started my career as a trial tax attorney in the Office of Chief Counsel for the Internal Revenue Service, and it is impossible for me to believe that this misconduct to be localized and undertaken by “low-level” employees.

In fact, those who work in this area are highly trained, tax-exempt specialists who don’t pursue reviews without approval. Indeed, the Inspector General’s report is unlikely to be truly comprehensive. That’s why a thorough congressional investigation is absolutely mandatory.

We need more than an investigation; we need accountability.  At the ACLJ we’re exploring all legal options on behalf of our clients.  But accountability need not wait on litigation.  Americans won’t regain confidence in the IRS – perhaps the federal government’s most intrusive and omnipresent agency – unless those responsible are punished.

So far the Obama administration has a terrible track record of holding officials responsible for misconduct.

No one has truly been held accountable even for the Benghazi debacle, where 4 brave Americans lost their lives.  Yes, President Obama has expressed outrage at the IRS scandal, but actions speak louder than words.

Mr. President, the ball’s in your court.  Will you act?
Jay Sekulow is Chief Counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ). Follow him on Twitter@JaySekulow.


SOURCE http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/05/14/puzzling-intrusive-questions-irs-asked-conservative-groups-represent