Hat tip Hot Air
It is becoming increasingly clear why Lois Lerner has twice taken the 5th before Congress. Judicial Watch, using the Freedom of Information Act, has come up with an e-mail from Lerner showing she was in contact with the Justice Department discussing possible prosecution of conservative groups who had filed tax exempt applications.
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/04/16/lerner-e-mailed-doj-to-push-criminal-prosecution-of-tax-exempt-applicants/
This is why we need a special prosecutor named to investigate this scandal. The Justice Department and the IRS cannot be trusted to investigate itself. It is clear that Eric Holder will not go after Lerner and whoever else is responsible.
Senators like Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) wanted Tea Party groups
investigated and prosecuted. The Justice Department was doing their bidding and passed it off to the Treasury Department and IRS. Lerner was right smack dab in the middle of it. Now we know she was not only sending directives to those "rogue agents" in Cincinnati, but coordinating with the White House and DOJ. This is clearly a case of corruption and abuse of power. However, if there is no special prosecutor, everyone will probably get away with it.
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3 comments:
Gary--alas, as you are undoubtedly aware, there is no true or independent "special prosecutor" these days. In 1978, the Congress passed and Carter signed into law the "Ethics in Government Act", from which came the U.S. Office of the Independent Counsel. This provided for a true independent prosecutor, originally called a "special prosecutor" and later re-named "independent counsel", who was appointed by a panel of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.
This office could be used by either the AG or the Congress to investigate current/former high-ranking government and Presidential campaign officials. The independence of this office came from the facts that the incumbent was appointed by a court and not the AG/DOJ, and further that the counsel could be dismissed only by the AG for "good cause" or by the court when the job was done.
Incidentally this was, of course, the authority under which Ken Starr operated. I would note that despite all the anguish and nonsense from libs/Dems, even Bill Clinton's own AG not only apparently could not find sufficient cause to dismiss Starr but in fact kept expanding his scope, which essentially caused Clinton's impeachment, which are themselves pretty fair indicators that Starr's various investigations were both legitimate and appropriate.
In 1999, the office of the Independent Counsel was replaced by the Office of Special Counsel, which is located within, and whose incumbent is both appointed, and subject to dismissal by, DOJ, which makes its title an obvious misnomer. It is supposedly charged with investigating alleged misconduct in the executive branch.
As I have previously noted, to expect this bunch in particular to investigate themselves is folly, and I would not recommend that anybody hold their breath until this happens.
Elwood
And this is the problem. We have a corrupt AG, who will not appoint the Special Counsel.
Stop! Stop! Stop!
President Obama told told Bill O'Reilly that "there is not smidgeon of scandal" in the IRS issue. Of course, that is why Lois pleads the "Fifth".
If you believe Obama, please let me know, as I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell.
Squid
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