(New York Post) To understand the latest outrage in the IRS scandal, mull over what might happen if regulators found significant evidence to implicate Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein in an insider trading scheme.
Let’s say Blankfein asserted his Fifth Amendment right not to answer any questions. Say Goldman was subpoenaed to provide all of Blankfein’s e-mails. Goldman replied that, instead of complying with the subpoena, it was itself reviewing the e-mails in question and was considering which ones to release.
Now imagine that, nearly a year later, Goldman admitted that it had not, in fact, reviewed the e-mails in question, because they had been lost in a computer crash two months before it claimed to be reviewing them. Imagine Goldman also said copies of the e-mails were lost, because while under subpoena it had destroyed the “backup tapes” (whatever those are) that held them and that it had also thrown away Blankfein’s actual hard drive.
The thing about dogs eating homework is, it could actually happen. This can’t. (more…)
Most reasonable people would see the current IRS claims “we can’t find the missing emails” as essentially ridiculous at face value. Of course the IRS could. The reason they won’t is likely because of the content therein.
And that’s where things get sketchy.
The lead public face in the deception, Lois Lerner, and the secondary face, IRS commissioner John Koskinen, have the benefit of a blind and politically weaponized Federal Department of Justice (via U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder) with no interest in investigating them or their activity.
Because of the inherent risk to the White House -and the sheer scope of the larger named Democrats in office- the Justice Department (AG Eric Holder) will do nothing to bring the targeting scheme to sunlight.
It’s brutally obvious from the behavior of Lois Lerner and Commissioner Koskinen they are fully cognizant of this fortunate political alignment.
So what alternatives are available ? (more…)
People are calling this: “Paul Ryan Obliterates…” Others say: “Paul Ryan goes off…”
Sorry for disagreeing but this video is neither of those…. AND that’s the problem.
No-one calls these government corruptocrats what they are, “liars”.
If this is the best outrage that GOP congress can muster, they’re toast. That is a weak, wishy-washy, limp-wristed, non-confrontational exchange filled with order and rule delivery. It’s well past time to make a few headlines with a significantly more impactful delivery.
Our republic is under attack direct attack from within. This poses an even greater risk than could be delivered from a foreign nation. (more…)
(Via Sharyl Attkisson) Today, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, (R-Calif.) requested that Jennifer O’Connor of the White House Counsel’s office testify next week.
In a letter, Issa requested O’Connor’s appearance at a hearing on Tuesday at 9:30a, a day after IRS Commissioner John Koskinen is scheduled to testify. The Tuesday hearing is entitled, “IRS Obstruction: Lois Lerner’s Missing E-Mails, Part II.”
(more…)
Repeat after me: Emails are not stored on “Hard Drives”; they are stored on “servers”.
If your computer crashes, you log onto another computer and access your e-mail. E-mail is not dependent on the workstation.
WASHINGTON DC – Ex-IRS official Lois Lerner’s crashed hard drive has been recycled, making it likely the lost emails of the lightening rod in the tea party targeting controversy will never be found, according to multiple sources.
“We’ve been informed that the hard drive has been thrown away,” Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the top Republican on the Finance Committee, said in a brief hallway interview.
Two additional sources told POLITICO the same late Wednesday, citing IRS officials. (more…)
(Via Sharyl Attkisson) Today, the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed IRS Commissioner John Koskinen to testify at a hearing Monday about Lois Lerner’s “lost” emails.
On Friday, the IRS disclosed to Congress that it had lost many Lois Lerner emails dated from January 2009 to April 2011 due to a previously undisclosed computer crash in 2011.
In a letter to Koskinen today, Chairman of the Oversight Committee Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said that the Federal Records Act (FRA) was passed by Congress to avoid this very scenario.
“The FRA requires agencies to make and preserve records of agency decisions, policies, and essential transactions, and to take steps to safeguard against the loss of agency records,” wrote Issa.
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Treepers, it’s important to remember the reality faced within the IRS scandal. It is a painful reality, but one that must be faced.
The Democrats have no concerns with the IRS being used as a tool to crush the grassroots Tea Party, that’s a no brainer. However, it’s also important to remember, as we have continued to outline, there is no basis to think the GOP has any more of an issue with it than the Democrats.
The entire political establishment, who thrive on the status quo, are at risk from grassroots efforts to disrupt their place -and control- at the trough. Pat Caddell outlined this accurately before (watch this video):
The establishment class have goals coordinated by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Tom Donahue. ObamaCare, Amnesty and Common Core are all part of their goals.
(Via Sharyl Attkisson) The news came late in the day on Friday the 13th.
According to the House Ways and Means Committee, the IRS reports having “lost” former IRS manager Lois Lerner’s emails to and from other IRS employees sent between January of 2009 and April of 2011 due to a ‘computer crash.’
In light of the disclosure, these are some of the logical requests that should be made of the IRS:
- Please provide a timeline of the crash and documentation covering when it was first discovered and by whom; when, how and by whom it was learned that materials were lost; the official documentation reporting the crash and federal data loss; documentation reflecting all attempts to recover the materials; and the remediation records documenting the fix. This material should include the names of all officials and technicians involved, as well as all internal communications about the matter.
- Please provide all documents and emails that refer to the crash from the time that it happened through the IRS’ disclosure to Congress Friday that it had occurred.
- Please provide the documents that show the computer crash and lost data were appropriately reported to the required entities including any contractor servicing the IRS. If the incident was not reported, please explain why.
- Please provide a list summarizing what other data was irretrievably lost in the computer crash. If the loss involved any personal data, was the loss disclosed to those impacted? If not, why?
FLASHBACK IRS SMIDGENS – […] Acting Commissioner Steven Miller, who turned in his resignation last week [May 2013], repeated the apology he made to a House committee for mistakes and poor customer service and took responsibility for the events that brought the scandal to light 11 days ago. It was his idea, he said, to have Lois Lerner, the IRS official who heads the Exempt Organizations Division, plant a question at a meeting of tax lawyers in Washington to ask her whether the IRS targets conservative groups. Her affirmative answer opened the political floodgates.
Why did he think it was a good idea to have a government employee secretly plant a question? “Obviously the whole thing was an incredibly bad idea,” Miller said. “I thought mistakenly we should get in front and apologize, then reach out to the Hill—we were wrong.” (more…)