BREAKING: Scandal-Ridden Lois Lerner Out, Update: Accountability Review Board Was About To Suggest Lerner Be Fired For Role In IRS Scandal

(FOX NEWS) –  Lois Lerner, the IRS official at the heart of the scandal involving the targeting of Tea Party groups, is retiring.

Lerner, who headed the division in the tax-collecting agency that handles applications for tax-exempt status, had been placed on paid administrative leave in May. Calls for her dismissal came almost immediately following allegations she had participated in unfairly targeting conservative groups.

The IRS confirmed on Monday that she has resigned, though it’s unclear how that decision might affect the ongoing congressional investigations into the scandal.

“Since May, the IRS has taken decisive actions to correct failures in Exempt Organizations management, replacing top leadership throughout the chain of command,” the agency said in a written statement announcing her retirement. “In addition, IRS Acting Commissioner Danny Werfel created an Accountability Review Board to fully review information to ensure proper oversight in handling personnel issues.”

The announcement has not quieted calls for a thorough probe into the agency’s actions. It’s also not clear what kind of government-paid retirement benefits Lerner might be receiving.

“Just because Lois Lerner is retiring from the IRS does not mean the investigation is over. Far from it.  In fact, there are many serious unanswered questions that must be addressed so we can get to the truth,” Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a written statement.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said: “Lois Lerner’s exit from the IRS does not alter the Oversight Committee’s interest in understanding why applicants for tax exempt status were targeted and inappropriately treated because of their political beliefs.”

“We still don’t know why Lois Lerner, as a senior IRS official, had such a personal interest in directing scrutiny and why she denied improper conduct to Congress. Her departure does not answer these questions or diminish the Committee’s interest in hearing her testimony,” he said.

Lerner first disclosed the IRS targeting at a May 10 tax law conference.

Lerner then infamously refused to testify at a hearing before Issa’s committee, citing her constitutional right not to incriminate herself. Three congressional committees and the Department of Justice, though, launched investigations into the IRS and its actions.

Eventually, the agency acknowledged that while she was in charge, IRS agents improperly targeted Tea Party groups for extra scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status from 2010-2012.

Earlier this month, newly released emails seemed to support accusations against the embattled IRS official and her role in scrutinizing applications.

The agency had initially tried to spin the story, claiming the unfair targeting was the work of rogue Ohio-based employees.

One email dated February 2011 from Lerner said, “Tea Party Matter very dangerous” – before going on to warn that the “matter” could be used to go to court to test campaign spending limits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Lois Lerner: Tea Party “Dangerous,” Terrorists Are Okay, Including Obama’s Half-Brother Malik

Lois Lerner pegged Tea Party as ‘dangerous’ but fast-tracked a foundation headed by a man who works for the Sudan’s Muslim Brotherhood government, who just happens to be the half-brother of Barack Obama, Malik Obama.

Shoebat reported: In newly released emails penned by Lois Lerner, Director of Tax Exempt Organizations at the IRS, it’s been learned that this woman identified Tea Parties as “dangerous”. Conversely, she fast-tracked the 501(c)(3) application of a foundation headed by a man who works for the Sudan’s Muslim Brotherhood government. That man also happens to be the half-brother of Barack Obama, Malik Obama.

Via the Wall Street Journal (h/t DC):

In a February 2011 email, Ms. Lerner advised her staff—including then Exempt Organizations Technical Manager Michael Seto and then Rulings and Agreements director Holly Paz—that a Tea Party matter is “very dangerous,” and is something “Counsel and [Lerner adviser] Judy Kindell need to be in on.” Ms. Lerner adds, “Cincy should probably NOT have these cases.”

That’s a different tune than the IRS sang in May when former IRS Commissioner Steven Miller said the agency’s overzealous enforcement was the work of two “rogue” employees in Cincinnati. When the story broke, Ms. Lerner suggested that her office had been unaware of the pattern of targeting until she read about it in the newspaper. “So it was pretty much we started seeing information in the press that raised questions for us, and we went back and took a look,” she said in May. {emphasis ours}

So, according to Lerner’s email, Tea Party groups led by people like Becky Gerritson of the Wetumpka, Alabama Tea Party are dangerous…

Yet, according to Lerner’s signature at the bottom of Malik Obama’s Tax Exempt approval letter, she gave expeditious, favorable, and illegal tax-exempt status to a foundation headed by a man who is in bed with the Muslim Brotherhood. We are left to conclude that Lerner doesn’t think mass genocidal murderers like Sudan’s Omar Al-Bashir are dangerous…

Back on August 29th, House Ways and Means Committee member, Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) took a call during a radio town hall and told a caller who brought up the scandal involving Lois Lerner and Malik Obama that he was “spot-on”:

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Lois Lerner: Emails Show IRS Specifically Targeted Tea Parties

IRS have been targeting Tea Parties since 2011 if not sooner, there shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone here.  But this latest bombshell strongly suggests Bolshevik Red Lois Lerner and her army of agency employees knew full well they went overboard in their scrutiny toward conservative groups.

Washington Times reported: Newly released emails show that Lois G. Lerner, the woman at the center of the IRS scandal over special scrutiny of conservative groups’ applications for tax-exempt status, specifically targeted tea party applications and directed they be held up in 2011 in order to come up with an agency policy.

The email, released by a House committee investigating the IRS, seems to counter Democrats’ arguments that tea party groups weren’t specifically targeted.

“Tea Party Matter very dangerous,” Ms. Lerner said in the 2011 email, saying that those applications could end up being the “vehicle to go to court” to get more clarity on a 2010 Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance rules.

In another email, from 2012, Ms. Lerner acknowledges that the agency’s handling of the tax-exempt applications had been bungled at the beginning, though she said they had taken steps to correct it.

“It is what it is,” she said in the email, released Thursday by the Ways and Means Committee. “Although the original story isn’t as pretty as we’d like, once we learned this [sic.] were off track, we have done what we can to change the process, better educate our staff and move the cases. So, we will get dinged, but we took steps before the ‘dinging’ to make things better and we have written procedures.”

That email suggests agency employees knew they had gone overboard in their scrutiny — despite top IRS officials telling Congress that there wasn’t any special scrutiny of conservative groups.

In another 2012 email, Ms. Lerner seemed to take sides in a battle between the Federal Election Commission and conservative group tax-exempt groups that were engaging in politics, saying that “perhaps the FEC will save the day.”

Ms. Lerner has been removed from her post at the helm of the tax-exempt organizations division, but has not been fired from the IRS.She asserted her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in refusing to testify to the House oversight committee earlier this year, though committee members argue that she may actually have waived that right and should be recalled and forced to answer questions.

In releasing the latest emails, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp said they show a dangerous patter.

“There is increasing and overwhelming evidence that Lois Lerner and high-level IRS employees in Washington were abusing their power to prevent conservative groups from organizing and carrying out their missions,” he said. “There are still mountains of documents to go through, but it is clear the IRS is out of control and there will be consequences.”

But Sander Levin, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said there is still no evidence that the IRS was driven by a political motive to stifle conservative views.

“Lois Lerner was incompetent in her management of the IRS tax-exempt division and unprofessional in her conduct — reasons why I immediately called for her to be relieved of her duties,” Mr. Levin said.

He said, though, that the GOP is overselling what it’s found during its investigation.

“Selective leaking by Republicans does not change the fact that tens of thousands of documents and dozens of interviews with IRS employees have revealed absolutely no evidence of political motivation, no evidence of outside influence and no evidence of White House involvement,” Mr. Levin said.

Rep. Joe Wilson: Is Obama Attacking Syria to Distract from Scandals?

http://embed.newsinc.com/Single/iframe.html?WID=1&VID=25129312&freewheel=69016&sitesection=breitbartprivate&width=640&height=480

Breitbart reported: Congressman Wilson (R-SC): “With the president’s redline, why was there no call for military response in April? Was it delayed to divert attention today from the Benghazi, IRS, NSA scandals, the failure of Obamacare enforcement, the tragedy of the White House-drafted sequestration or the upcoming debt limit vote? Again, why was there no call for a military response four months ago when the president’s red line was crossed?”

Judge Jeanine: Opening Statement 6/29/2013, Obama Administration Conveniently Claim the Fifth ‘When They’re Caught With Their Hands in the Cookie Jar’

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BREAKING: New IRS Chief Says Targeting Of Conservative Groups Was Broader And Longer Than Previously Disclosed, and Still No Heads to Roll?

The flaunting of power, in-your-face, politics to the American people continues.

Where in the hell is accountability to the smallest degree, the Obama administration will certainly not take any responsibility!  Is there an once of ethics left in this Washington D.C. cesspool?  I think not.

It’s certainly no news that the IRS has inappropriately screened conservative groups from tax exempt status, but for the new chief of the IRS to claim that it was still happening when he got into office, and still no heads to roll?  Beyond outrageous.

Soft tyranny is now firmly in place, quickly transitioning to hard tyranny.

The Weasel Zippers reports: WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the Internal Revenue Service says inappropriate screening of groups seeking tax-exempt status was broader and lasted longer than was previously disclosed.

Danny Werfel told reporters Monday that after becoming acting IRS chief last month, he discovered inappropriate and wide-ranging criteria in lists screeners use to single out groups for careful examinations. He did not specify what terms were on the lists.

Werfel’s comments suggest the IRS may have been targeting groups other than tea party and other conservative organizations for tough examinations to see if they qualify. The agency has been under fire since last month for targeting those groups.

Werfel said he has suspended use of those lists. Investigators have previously said agency officials abolished targeting of conservative groups in those lists in May 2012.

UPDATE: (The Hill) – The acting head of the IRS said Monday that the agency was still giving improper scrutiny to groups seeking tax-exempt status when he arrived in May, suggesting that the probe into the IRS’s treatment of conservative groups could widen.

Danny Werfel, the acting chief, said that the IRS division overseeing tax-exempt applications used other “be on the lookout” lists as they tried to flag cases that needed more attention.

The so-called BOLO list has proven to be a key detail in the current investigation over the IRS’s singling out of conservative groups, with agency officials searching for groups with the name “Tea Party,” “patriots” and “9/12.”

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Judge Jeanine: Opening Statement 6/8/2013, ‘Since When Are They in Entitled to Spend Our Money on Two Bedroom Presidential Suites?’

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Trey Gowdy: Fights Back Tears While Ripping Inspector General J. Russell George for Lavish, Unnecessary Spending

At The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing Rep Gowdy slams the IRS officials responsible for wasting struggling taxpayers’ money: “This Is a Moral Issue.”

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LOIS LERNER: to Republican in 1996: ‘Promise me You Will Never Run Again, and We’ll Drop This (FEC) Case’

Lois Lerner, the Federal Election Commission at the time, sued the Christian Coalition in the 1990’s.  She then harassed the Christian Coalition for three consecutive elections!

Then there’s this bombshell reported by USofArn: Lois Lerner made this offer to Republican Senate candidate Al Salvi in 1996, “Promise me you will never run for office again, and we’ll drop this case.”

During the final weeks of the campaign Salvi loaned himself over a million dollars to buy ads in the Chicago media market. This in turn prompted the Democrat party’s campaign arms to file complaints with the FEC and in kind the FEC, specifically Lois Lerner, filed charges against Al Salvi.

That is when Mr. Salvi contends Lois Lerner made him the following offer, “Promise me you will never run for office again, and we’ll drop this case.”

Al Salvi refused that offer and would fight the FEC complaint against him for several more years before a Judge tossed out the complaint.

The Illinois Review broke the story and interviewed Al Salvi:

Soon after the IRS story broke, Al Salvi told Illinois Review that it was IRS official Lois Lerner who represented the FEC in a Democrat complaint against him. According to Salvi, Lerner was, without question, politically motivated, and went so far as to make him an offer: “Promise me you will never run for office again, and we’ll drop this case.”

Salvi declined her offer, and ran for Illinois Secretary of State in 1998.

But when he saw Lerner plead the Fifth Amendment before Congress last week, he recognized her. “That’s the woman,” Salvi said. “And I didn’t plead the Fifth like she did.”

Lois Lerner is about as corrupt as they come and makes a perfect complement for the Obama administration.  Fortunately, the conservative base has caught up to this scumbag and she will be brought to justice.

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Holder to Investigate Holder, Obama’s Contempt Will Trump Truth

Obama has had enough; it’s time to get to the bottom of this AP scandal once and for all.  Ahem, are you ready for this?  Obama has asked Holder to investigate… well, Holder.  Congrats prez, you have taken your arrogance to a whole new level.

“Obama sought Thursday to quell rising concerns in the press and public about the targeting of journalists by the Justice Department – an overbroad secret subpoena against the Associated Press and the naming of FOX News’ James Rosen as a possible criminal for working a source at the State Department – by again expressing his support for the First Amendment and instructing Holder to reflect on his policies.”

Holder signed off on warrant for James Rosen records « Hot Air

hotair.com5/23/13

I hear Holder is going to investigate his own actions in the Rosen and AP cases, discuss it with some admin-friendly reporters, and report the minutes personally to the president. Finally! Transparency and accountability! /s …

NBC: Eric Holder signed off on criminal investigation of Fox News …

twitchy.com5/23/13

NBC News is reporting tonight that Attorney General Eric Holder personally signed off on the search warrant naming Rosen as a co-conspirator in the case of Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, whom the government has accused of leaking sensitive information. So, Eric Holder approved search warrant on Fox reporter’s PRIVATE emails. … Eric holder’s world: signed off on warrant for that scary #jamesrosen. Wouldnt investigate thugs intimidating voters at polling places.— …

Without a doubt, this is an ego-trip for Obama, even the most ardent liberals that get their cues from MSLSD will find it reprehensible for Holder to self-censure!

After all, NBC News is reporting that Holder himself signed off on the subpoena that targeted Rosen, though the agency remains officially “mum” on the subject. However, DOJ rules require that such document grabs require approval from the top cop.  The liberal droll continues.

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