Michael Gaynor
IRS under criminal investigation for politically motivated coverup
FacebookTwitter
By Michael Gaynor
March 2, 2015

"The IRS has a lot of explaining to do," Chaffetz told CNN.

Last Thursday Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Timothy Camus revealed during testimony to the House Oversight Committee that the IRS is under investigation for criminal misconduct, including lying under oath about disposition of missing emails and email backup tapes that appear to have been intentionally erased.

"What we're looking at is potential criminal wrongdoing. This has the looks, feel and smells of being criminal. And the IG confirmed tonight that's what they're looking into," House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz told CNN after the hearing.

Camus testified that less than two weeks ago, officials discovered an additional 424 backup tapes and are trying to determine what emails, if any, are on them. The tapes are in addition to about 750 backup tapes the inspector general found in July, some of which contained emails of Lois Lerner, now retired and not talking.

The IRS had told Congress that backup tapes no longer existed.

Camus explained that while investigating, his team realized the IRS had failed to turn over a relevant document. It was demanded and finally produced. It led to the discovery of an additional 424 backup tapes they had not previously been aware existed at a government data center.

When Camus and his team traveled to West Virginia where the tapes were kept, he discovered something else. According to the IT professionals at the data center, no one from the IRS had ever requested the tapes!

Instead, the IRS wrote to Senators Ron Wyden and Orrin Hatch on June 13, 2014 (a Friday) that the IRS claimed backup tapes of agency emails were only kept for six months and, after that, were over-written.

The letter stated: "For disaster recovery purposes, the IRS does a daily back-up of its email servers. The daily back-up provides a snapshot of the contents of all email boxes as of the date and time of the backup. Prior to May 2013, these backups were retained on tape for six months, and then for cost-efficiency, the backup tapes were released for re-use."

That was the pre-Election Day 2014 position and the same letter revealed for the first time (on the last page) that Lois Lerner had a hard drive crash in mid-2011, making many of the most relevant emails unavailable, presumably forever.

"The IRS has a lot of explaining to do," Chaffetz told CNN. "Because what (the inspector general) told us tonight means what the IRS told us is just factually not true."

So much for the most transparent administration in history!

The saying "It's not the crime, it's the cover-up" originated with Watergate.

It may be a lesson that the Obama Administration did not learn.

Obama Administration target and True the Voter Founder and President Catherine Engelbrecht BOLDLY issued the following statement in response to the potentially explosive yet generally unpublicized testimony: "The IRS was apparently given instruction to do whatever necessary to silence those who spoke out against the Obama Administration. It became a West Wing weapon of choice."

Engelbrecht elaborated:

"As the nation's only pro-liberty election integrity organization, True the Vote was marked for takedown by the IRS early in 2010, along with hundreds of other organizations that spoke openly about government corruption. It took a long time, too long, for the pieces to be put together, but Americans are beginning to understand that the politics of 'hope and change' has an enforcement arm that operates like an organized crime syndicate."

The Obama "Justice" Department has been a key part of the problem instead of the solution.

But now the Republicans control both houses of Congress and must act, not rely on the Obama "Justice" Department.

As Engelbrecht put it, "The time for choosing is now. Our elected officials need to stop playing politics and use the powers we've entrusted to them to restore the rule of law in Washington. Stop handing out bonuses and start sending law-breaking bureaucrats to jail. If Congress doesn't have conviction enough to get the job done, then just turn out the lights, get off the payroll, go home, and get out of the way. Enough is enough. The American people will not be silenced."

Hopefully, that's true.

But will Congress dare to do the right thing to do...or kowtow to the Obama Administration until its through?

© Michael Gaynor

 

The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)

Click to enlarge

Michael Gaynor

Michael J. Gaynor has been practicing law in New York since 1973. A former partner at Fulton, Duncombe & Rowe and Gaynor & Bass, he is a solo practitioner admitted to practice in New York state and federal courts and an Association of the Bar of the City of New York member... (more)

Subscribe

Receive future articles by Michael Gaynor: Click here

More by this author

August 7, 2023
Elections can be 'stolen' in many ways, and the 2020 U.S. presidential election is a 'perfect' example


April 11, 2023
'Politics ain't beanbag,' but investigation and prosecution of Donald Trump by rabid partisans must stop


January 16, 2023
Perhaps learning why the Pearl Harbor attack was a surprise in Hawaii but not in Washington can help us appreciate and learn from other federal government mistakes and move forward wisely


November 4, 2022
Free True the Vote's Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips


October 3, 2022
Who Sabotaged the Nord Stream pipelines?


August 13, 2022
Mar-a-Lago raid shows Trump derangement syndrome has fortuitously worsened


July 5, 2022
From the Warren Court to Roberts Court to Thomas Court


May 21, 2022
Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been barred from receiving Holy Communion at last


November 19, 2021
Justice ultimately prevailed in the Kyle Rittenhouse case


September 1, 2021
Is Afghanistan President Biden's Waterloo, or America's, too?


More articles

 

Stephen Stone
The most egregious lies Evan McMullin and the media have told about Sen. Mike Lee

Siena Hoefling
Protect the Children: Update with VIDEO

Stephen Stone
Flashback: Dems' fake claim that Trump and Utah congressional hopeful Burgess Owens want 'renewed nuclear testing' blows up when examined

Linda Goudsmit
Chapter 10: Objective reality is required for a free society

Michael Bresciani
Gay is OK, but trans for kids is on the skids – Have Americans now become judges of evil thoughts?

Linda Kimball
Nihilism…all that exists is matter and energy: The worldview that caused the collapse of Christendom and Protestant Amer

Peter Lemiska
China doesn’t need a Trojan Horse – It has Joe Biden

Rev. Mark H. Creech
Revelation Chapter 22: Getting beyond doubt, Billy Graham’s example

Paul A. Byrne, M.D.
2024 International Gift of Life Walk – NYC

Cliff Kincaid
Biden’s bloody revolution for America

Victor Sharpe
Senator Schumer enters the annals of Shame

Linda Kimball
Prayer against evil, insane Babylon

Steve A. Stone
Letter to President Trump

Curtis Dahlgren
'There are a few good Swedes' (many forms of bias)

Jerry Newcombe
Bribing future generations for Marx?
  More columns

Cartoons


Click for full cartoon
More cartoons

Columnists

Matt C. Abbott
Chris Adamo
Russ J. Alan
Bonnie Alba
Chuck Baldwin
Kevin J. Banet
J. Matt Barber
Fr. Tom Bartolomeo
. . .
[See more]

Sister sites