May 14, 2013

"Justice Department Opens Inquiry Into I.R.S. Audits."

"The attorney general said there were 'a variety of statutes within the I.R.S. code' that could be the basis of a criminal violation. He said officials conducting the investigation would also look at 'other things in Title 18' of the United States Code. Title 18 is the overall criminal code for the federal government."
Mr. Holder also fielded questions about the seizure of telephone records from reporters and editors at The Associated Press.... Mr. Holder said he was confident that his subordinates had sought the subpoenas in accord with Justice Department regulations...

73 comments:

Patrick said...

It's good that the hen house is guarded, but I'm not so sure it was wise to hire the fox for the job.

Larry J said...

Holder is about the last person any rational person would trust for this job. He must have some good shit on Obama or he would've been canned a long time ago.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Does the buck stop with Holder?

Don't count on it.

This too will be farce and a charade. The corruption runs so deep, that even the law and police mechanisms can't stop it.

Watch as a few unknown lackeys get thrown under the bus. Say hello to Nakoula in prison, fellas.

Icepick said...

Anyone want to bet that Holder finds that nothing untoward happened?

Synova said...

I don't think that "we followed the law" on Holder's part is going to satisfy journalists.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Holder expert whitewash.

Mark said...

The fox is investigating the weasel re: recent hen disappearances.

Mark said...

eh, Patrick beat me to it.

FleetUSA said...

Certainly not impartial. What if he finds multiple fingerprints leading all the way to Valerie Jarrett? He wouldn't dare. Congress needs to start subpoenas process.

chuck said...

Will this be an aid or hindrance to a Congressional investigation? I'd guess the latter.

TA said...

On the AP thing, as I understand it, Justice Dept regs would require that Holder himself sign off on the subpoena for the phone records, based on a memo his subordinates write, documenting why, that they have tried valiantly to get the necessary info without this step, etc.

Perhaps we could see the memo.

Unknown said...

Rest assured, Mr. Holder will act rapidly and furiously to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

President-Mom-Jeans said...

So confident that this will be a hard hitting and impartial investigation that will go wherever the evidence leads, regardless of political damage to the democrats.

Equally confident that Obama was NOT concieved by a commie whore and a deadbeat america hating bigamist.

Anonymous said...

Any investigation will be prolonged in an attempt to let things cool down and hope people forget. I don't think the Justice Department should be allowed to investigate this. I don't think they can be independent. Any report will only be distributed in summary form, with the rest being held as confidential.

bagoh20 said...

They DOJ already has the final report written and will release it next year.

Matt Sablan said...

Small potatoes!

bagoh20 said...

We have our top guy on it. Oh, goody!

rehajm said...

This is where the scandal barrage is headed- lump them all together in a big pile then fire a few IRS staffers and problem with Benghazi et al solved!

edutcher said...

Mr Issa begs to differ.

I guess Holder was looking out for "my people" again.

Larry J said...

chuck said...
Will this be an aid or hindrance to a Congressional investigation? I'd guess the latter.


Of course it'll be a hindrance. It'll give the Justice Department the authority to stonewall any Congressional inquiries because of the "ongoing investigation" that'll likely last until Jan 21, 2017.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

I can only imagine the gales of laughter that swept Washington D.C. when this was announced.

Rusty said...

"I want to wait until the administration is finished with its investigation before I form an opinion."


That one never gets old.

Matt Sablan said...

Wait, you mean that the people accused of wrong doing shouldn't be the only ones telling us if they did something wrong? Nuts to that.

TerriW said...

I'll only be satisfied if we get a blue-ribbon panel.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

All I can say is that if Holder does actually do a serious investigation, he'd better hope his taxes are in order.

pm317 said...

Ann, did you miss this Drudgetaposition? It is pretty cool.

garage mahal said...

The deficit is falling like a rock and scandals are a flying

Party like it's 1994!

pm317 said...

Comment seen on another blog:You are correct that the IRS as enforcer of healthcare as a tool to “get control of the American people” is just coming into view. Access to the medical records of opponents is only part of it. Coupled with the review boards for approval of medical treatment, IRS directing who can and cannot access medical insurance and at what cost, and the tracking of political discourse and affiliations, you see a populace cowering at who lives and dies according to what you said, thought, contributed to and voted years before affecting who gets medical intervention. It is a horror show.

Medical records of 'opponents' in the hands of IRS? I didn't see that coming. Did you?

Browndog said...

Seriously?

Next thing they'll tell us is they're going to hire an al Qaida affiliate to guard an American consulate in the terrorist stronghold of western Libya.

Personally, I'd like to see Homeland Security oversee the DOJ investigation of the IRS.

assurances...

Unknown said...

So now they "can't comment on ongoing investigation" while the FBI slow-walks the whitewash.

bagoh20 said...

"The deficit is falling like a rock and scandals are a flying

Party like it's 1994!"


Yep, and that's where the cause of the current recession had it's start. Maybe there is something to your insight. Let's not let the asshole get away with it this time.

Browndog said...

Holder said he's been a prosecutor since the '70's...

So, if you want to question his integrity, it can only mean one thing:

You cowards finally have the balls to have a conversation about race!

bagoh20 said...

The deficit took a nice drop in 1974 too. I am seeing a pattern here.

Methadras said...

Why is Geitner still there? His head should be on a platter along with his underlings in Ohio. Eric Holder needs to resign today as well. If Obama was smart he and Biden would be resigning as well. Oh wait...

edutcher said...

garage mahal said...

The deficit is falling like a rock and scandals are a flying

A rock weighing approximately .0000001 mcg

garage mahal said...

Yep, and that's where the cause of the current recession had it's start.

Jobs and surpluses of the 1990s started the recession that started Dec 2007?

wildswan said...

The issue is regulating the regulators. Every regulation should have a name attached - who proposed it and a history - why was it proposed - and an environmental impact statement - and an economic impact statement. Regulations are replacing laws because laws have all those constraints on them and regulations do not. Obamacare was not a law but a license to regulate.

Now we, the people, have to get the Regulators to understand the Constitution. It covers their activities, too. It's somewhat like reforming the Civil Service; somewhat like bringing in the secret ballot. In other words, there is a way to do it. Penalties, for example. Every regulator should be made to understand the same thing as every Army private - orders (regulations) can be wrong and obeying wrong orders (regulations) is wrong and sends you to jail. Also there should be dishonorable discharges from the Civil Service which would mean pensions and health insurance are forfeited just like the Army. A little work along these lines would go a long way.

Brian Brown said...

So the same DOJ who spied on the AP is going to fix this IRS stuff?

Right.

Brian Brown said...

The deficit is falling like a rock

Hysterical.

It will still be $200 billion + higher than Bush's largest deficit.

bagoh20 said...

"Jobs and surpluses of the 1990s started the recession that started Dec 2007? "

Bad banking and housing policy. Read up on it.

bagoh20 said...

The great thing about Obama fans is that they are impressed when he screws up less than his previous screw ups. This is called success.

bagoh20 said...

No deficit in the squirrel sighting lately.

gerry said...

"The CBO credited recovering tax revenues and a one-time infusion of cash from mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for the dramatic reduction..." [Washington Post]
[emphasis added]

"One of the reasons for the burst of additional income tax revenues, the budget office says, is that upper-income taxpayers claimed more income late last year in order to avoid paying the higher tax rates enacted in January." [USA Today]
[emphasis added]

A "burst" and "one-time" occurrences of revenue are not sustainable trends, no matter what the propaganda mills (Puffington Host the best example of garbage sources) may say.

Typical gar(b)age. Idiot.

Roger J. said...

Excuse me wasn't the excrable mr Holder cited for contempt of congress? And wasn't that referred to the appropriate legal office in the DC area? And where precisely is any court action forthcoming. Nothing will come of the contempt citation and nothing will come of holder's "investigation.

This country is truly fucked

garage mahal said...

It will still be $200 billion + higher than Bush's largest deficit.

The deficit according to the CBO was 1.2 trillion when Obama took office.

On Jan. 7, 2009, two weeks before Obama took office, the Congressional Budget Office reported that the deficit for fiscal year 2009 was projected to be $1.2 trillion.

gerry said...

bagoh20 said

Bad banking and housing policy
Read up on it.


Indeed.

Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House banking panel, stated at a 2003 hearing: "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not facing any kind of financial crisis. The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing."

The Bush adminstration proposed reforms of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in efforts to increase oversight, and Frank opposed those reforms. In fact, Frank had been a driving force in deregulation of Fannie Mae.

“In the 1990's, Barney Frank’s efforts to deregulate Fannie Mae may have been a serious conflict of interest because his lover, Herb Moses, was an executive for Fannie Mae at the time Frank's was on the House Banking Committee, which had jurisdiction over Fannie Mae. [Examiner.com]

Barney Frank "married" Herb Moses in 2012.

Stop being such a stooge, garage.

Idiot.

gerry said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
garage mahal said...

Barney Frank "married" Herb Moses in 2012.

Hey, thanks. I'll make sure to keep that in mind.

President-Mom-Jeans said...

Falling like a rock = Not increasing quite as fast as it was before.

You fat fucking idiot.

grackle said...

I don't think that "we followed the law" on Holder's part is going to satisfy journalists.

I don't see why not. They've swallowed everything squirted at them so far:

Fast and Furious = GOP witch hunt

Benghazi = GOP witch hunt + Nothing New/Old News/No There There/Right-wing Extremists Politicization of a Terrible Tragedy/What Difference Does It Make

IRS targeting = a few rogue low-level IRS employees who regrettably went beyond their authority. Examples will have to be made of those few bad apples – demotions for some, transfer for others, perhaps the firing of a department head or two for knowing about it but not stopping it.

AP phone records confiscation = Definitely going too darn far but Holder had nothing to do with it(collective sigh of relief for plausible deniability), which fixes the transgression safely two levels away from the beloved Obama.

Besides, all the journalists have to do is write stories based on leaks that are advantageous to Obama and harmful to the GOP, which they are already predisposed to do, and their embarrassing dirty laundry(revealed by their private conversations and texts) will never be used by Obama. Leakers know this too.

They are a little angry now because they are probably a bit miffed about idea of all the crap on their phone records that Obama has in his hands and they are getting a kick out of beating up on Carney and are forced to bloviate righteously about the ill-advised IRS targeting but after it's all said and done I think they'll get right back down on their knees for more "satisfaction" well before the mid-terms. The MSM have too much invested to do otherwise. They will have to double down.

Mark said...

What do you want to bet that Justice will seek to limit Congressional access to information/witnesses on the grounds that such access would be detrimental to an ongoing criminal investigation?*

*Must credit Althouse Wingnuts.

gerry said...

On Jan. 7, 2009, two weeks before Obama took office, the Congressional Budget Office reported that the deficit for fiscal year 2009 was projected to be $1.2 trillion.

The 111th Congress was controlled by Democrats. TARP, passed late in 2008, was $700 billion, and cause for the 1.2 trillion 2009 deficit so eagerly cited by vaporous heads on the left as evidence of Bush evil.

Bush was not a conservative, by any means, and TARP was pushed by both Bush and the RINOs in the Senate and House, with the lib press heartily supporting it.

Congress controls spending. Democrats created the 1.2 trillion deficit with the support of Republicans.

And must I remind you that Fannie Mae and Fredie Mac had already begunto implode in 2008?

gerry said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
garage mahal said...

Falling like a rock = Not increasing quite as fast as it was before.

I don't you get the whole federal budget thing.

Anyways I thought conservatives would be rejoicing? We even ran a surplus in April.(!)

Good news is that entitlement reform should off the table now and congress can roll up their sleeves and find a way to create some jobs, which is really what we need right now.

Paul said...

Oh it's far far more than just the IRS targeting conservatives or Jews or those opposed to Obama. They gave the info to opposing groups.

I hear the FBI is gonna investigate the IRS but hey, that's like a prostitute investigating a brothel.

These scandals have only started and Obama is a lying lame duck. He has so many times lied and hid that they will not be able to stop all the leaks. He may yet resign before the end of his term.

Mark said...

Who will be the first Democrat to call for Obama to resign?

(My guess is Max Baucus. He's not running for re-election and apparently doesn't want to be remembered as Obama's bagman on Obamacare.)

Mark said...

On the other hand, I doubt anyone wants to be remembered as the person who ushered in the Biden Presidency.

Seeing Red said...

Oddly enough, there would be surpluses now if they didn't already spend it all.

Wall fell, Russia went boom. There was the "surplus."

Mark said...

...congress can roll up their sleeves and find a way to create some jobs, which is really what we need right now.

What we really need right now is SQUIRREL!

Brian Brown said...


Anyways I thought conservatives would be rejoicing? We even ran a surplus in April.(!)


Watching you fling this poo is boring.

Why do you come here?

Brian Brown said...

garage mahal said...

The deficit according to the CBO was 1.2 trillion when Obama took office.


And the entirety of that is due to Harry & Nancy.

You have no point, idiot.

Brian Brown said...

congress can roll up their sleeves and find a way to create some jobs, which is really what we need right now.


Congress has not "created jobs" a single time in the history of America.

You are an abject imbecile.

Brian Brown said...

Barack Obama in 2010 spent over 20% MORE than George Bush did at the height of two wars in 2005.

garage thinks a $200 billion decline in an annual deficit of a President who has presided over a 60% increase in the federal debt is something to cheer about.

garage obviously doesn't know what % 200 billion is of 6.4 trillion.

garage is dumb.

garage mahal said...

You have no point, idiot.

The point was that you were wrong or lying, and I corrected it.

ndspinelli said...

edutcher, Thanks for the good info on the IRS. You are much more knowledgeable on this subject than I am.

Astro said...

Inquiry into IRS audits finished in 3.., 2.., 1...

Seeing Red said...

llololol from ZeroHedge:

...Perhaps the most notable difference is that in 2008, the CBO was predicting that the US budget deficit would turn into a surplus in 2011. Instead ended up being an $1+ trillion deficit for that year alone. Also, in the period between 2008 and 2013, the CBO then forecast a cumulative deficit of just a few hundred billion. Instead, we ended up with deficits of over $5 trillion and, sadly, still rising.....

Seeing Red said...

Last and certainly not least, despite the NY Fed's attempts to make the US credit picture rosier than it is, we learned that a record 14.64% of US consumers are now in "collections" status with their local, friendly credit agency (for an average amount of $1433). Bullish for credit collectors.

eddie willers said...

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Drago said...

garage: "Jobs and surpluses of the 1990s started the recession that started Dec 2007?"

There was no year during the 1990's in which the Federal debt did not increase.

None.

Hence, there was no real "surplus" during the 1990's.

If there were, at least one year would have shown a decrease in the Federal Debt.

Brian Brown said...

garage mahal said...


The point was that you were wrong or lying, and I corrected it.


Hilarious.

Yes, like you "corrected" everyone yesterday by linking to a left wing blog that completely made up shit about an OIG report on the FBI allegedly "spying" on anti-war groups.

Funny how when the actual report was quoted you disappeared, huh?

Drago said...

Jay: "Funny how when the actual report was quoted you disappeared, huh?"

In garages defense, the report did have some big words and stuff.

hombre said...

I just got here, but I see that garage has decided now he wants to talk about the economy, which is maybe the only issue big enough to deflect attention away from the latest revelations about the lying, thuggish government being run by Democrat sociopaths. Hang in there garage. I'm sure it will get worse. LOL.