The Obama administration had a parade, a parade of scapegoats. First in the IRS scandal, Obama announced that Acting IRS Director Steven Miller had resigned. The problem is that statement? Miller was the Acting Director.
According to the IRS website, he assumed the position of Acting Director in November, 2012, six months ago. He told his staff previously that his term was ending in June, 2013. In other words, he was leaving that position anyway. Obama used that previously scheduled departure to appear to be doing something while actually doing nothing.
Then they blamed the low-level employees at the Cincinnati IRS office. First, it was just a single employee who was processing the Tax Exempt applications. Then, it was more than one, it was several, a number who acted on their own. What do those low-level IRS employees have to say? “sources went on say that these four IRS workers claim ‘they simply did what their bosses ordered.’ (FOX News)“
FOX19 EXCLUSIVE: Four local IRS workers allegedly connected to scandal
Posted: May 15, 2013 9:50 PM CDT Updated: May 16, 2013 5:33 AM CDT By Ben Swann
CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) –
FOX19 has exclusively learned that as many as four people may be the first Cincinnati Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees to face disciplinary action, and possibly even criminal charges, for allegedly targeting Tea Party and Liberty groups applying for non-profit status.
On Wednesday, the IRS announced that it had pinpointed two employees at the agency’s Cincinnati office for being ‘primarily’ responsible.
In addition, acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller resigned his position, revealed by President Obama on Wednesday.
“Secretary Lew took the first step by requesting and accepting the resignation of the acting commissioner of the IRS, because given the controversy surrounding this audit, it’s important to institute new leadership that can help restore confidence going forward,” said President Obama in a statement on Wednesday evening.
Prior to his resignation, Steven Miller called the two Cincinnati employees ‘rogue’ and ‘off the reservation,’ adding that they were ‘overly aggressive’ in handling the requests from those conservative groups over the past two years.
Miller also added that those two employees have already been ‘disciplined’ by the agency.
However, despite the claim of just two employees being involved, FOX19 has exclusively learned from two separate sources that there could be at least four Cincinnati employees involved.
Those four employees, whose names we have chosen to withhold until they have been officially confirmed, have each worked in the IRS Exempt Organizations Department.
This is the same department that has admitted publicly to sending letters to Tea Party and other conservative organizations.
In the DoJ investigation of “national security” leaks to the press, Att’y General Eric Holder said he had recused himself of that investigation. When asked about the AP wiretaps and subpoenas, his repeated mantra was, “I don’t know.” In Holder’s session before congress, he appeared to be proud of his ignorance of the investigation.
Eric Holder Says He’s ‘Not Sure’ How Many Times DOJ Sought Journalists’ Records
The Huffington Post | By Luke Johnson
Posted: 05/15/2013 10:40 am EDT | Updated: 05/15/2013 12:26 pm EDT
…Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday said he was unsure how many times he’d signed off on subpoenas to seize reporter records.
“I’m not sure how many of those cases that I have actually signed off on,” Holder told NPR’s Carrie Johnson. “I take them very seriously. I know that I have refused to sign a few, pushed a few back for modifications.”
The comments from Holder are bound to stir up additional criticism of the Obama administration’s approach to First Amendment protections for reporters. The president and his staff are already under intense scrutiny over the Department of Justice’s decision to subpoena the phone records for more than 100 journalists at the Associated Press. That Holder could not recall how many times he has done something similar in the past will only fan those flames.
Holder revealed Tuesday that he had recused himself from an FBI investigation into the alleged leak of classified intelligence to the AP. The leak revealed a would-be suicide bomber who was also a CIA undercover agent. The department seized records for more than 20 phone lines from AP offices in Washington, New York and Hartford, Conn., from April 2012 and May 2012.
Holder, in his press conference, remained vague about the scope of the subpoenas. “The people who are involved in this investigation who I’ve known for a great many years and who I’ve worked with for a great many years followed all the appropriate Justice Department regulations and did things according to DOJ rules,” he said. “Based on the people that I know — I don’t know about the facts — but based on the people that I know, I think that subpoena was done in accordance with DOJ regs.”
And what about the subordinate who was in charge of the AP investigation? It’s a classified matter and he can’t talk about it. Nice quandary isn’t it? Holder doesn’t know and the one who does, isn’t allowed to talk.
I don’t know who Holder assigned the AP investigation, but if I were him, I’d get my resume in order and be careful not to turn my back on Holder, lest a knife slips through my ribs.