Cincinnati IRS employee: Washington was ‘basically throwing us underneath the bus’

[bsteadman]

Cincinnati IRS employee: Washington was ‘basically throwing us underneath the bus’

The Daily Caller
Caroline May
6/2/2013

Excerpt:

In interviews with House Oversight Committee investigators, Cincinnati IRS employees said that they believed that targeting of conservative groups came from Washington, not from a couple of “rogue agents. “

Sunday the House Oversight Committee released partial transcripts of Oversight Committee investigators’ interviews with unnamed Cincinnati IRS employees, which contradicts the line coming from the White House.

“It’s impossible,” an IRS employee responded to an investigator’s question about the allegations that the targeting of conservative groups was due to “two ‘rogue agents.” “As an agent we are controlled by many, many people. We have to submit many, many reports. So the chance of two agents being rogue and doing things like that could never happen.”

Answering a question about the employee’s reaction to news reports that the targeting was contained in Cincinnati and the fault of the Cincinnati office, the employee said that Washington has been throwing them under the bus.

“Well, it’s hard to answer the question because in my mind I still hear people saying we were low‑level employees, so we were lower than dirt, according to people in D.C. So, take it for what it is,” a Cincinnati IRS employee said. “They were basically throwing us underneath the bus.”

The employee further noted that it was a supervisor who requested they do a search for tea party and similar applications in March of 2010.

“Did [your supervisor] give you any indication of the need for the search, any more context?” an investigator asked.

“He told me that Washington, D.C., wanted some cases,” the employee responded, going on to answer that by April 2010 the group was handling fewer than 40 cases and had sent seven cases to Washington, D.C.

When asked for the reason behind the request that cases be sent to Washington, D.C. the employee responded, “He said Washington, D.C. wanted seven. Because at one point I believe I heard they were thinking 10, but it came down to seven. I said okay, seven.”

The employee explained that the Cincinnati office sent the first seven cases that had come into the system.

The employee further noted that Washington, D.C. had additionally requested the applications or parts of the applications for two specific groups.
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View the complete article at:

http://dailycaller.com/2013/06/02/ci...neath-the-bus/

[bsteadman]

Free Republic is running a thread titled, 'Cincinnati IRS employee: Washington was ‘basically throwing us underneath the bus’, which was started 6/3/2013 by 'servo1969'

The thread references the 6/2/2013 Daily Caller article written by Caroline May - http://dailycaller.com/2013/06/02/ci...neath-the-bus/

View the complete Free Republic thread at:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3026628/posts

[bsteadman]

Darrell Issa Accuses Obama Administration: IRS Targeting ‘Directly Ordered From Washington’

Mediaite
Evan McMurry
6/2/2013

Excerpt:

Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair Darrell Issa grappled with State of the Union host Candy Crowley Sunday morning over whether there was any direct evidence linking the IRS targeting of conservative groups to the Obama administration.

“As late as last week,” Issa claimed, “the administration’s still trying to say there’s a few rogue agents in Cincinnati, when in fact the indication is they were directly being ordered from Washington.”

But Crowley played an excerpt of a transcript from an interview with an implicated IRS agent, in which the agent had no idea whether the order to scrutinize tea party groups came from Washington or not. “It’s totally not definitive,” Crowley said.

“Well, that one isn’t,” Issa protested. “These are in real time, and the administration, their paid liar, their spokesperson, he’s still making up things about what happened and calling this ‘local rogue.’ The reason Lois Lerner tried to take the Fifth is not because there’s a rogue in Cincinnati. It’s because this was a problem coordinated in all likelihood right out of Washington headquarters and we’re getting to proving it.”

“But that’s it,” Crowley said. “You don’t have that direct link. You have the frontline agents going, ‘Yeah, we figured it was from Washington or I believe it was,’ but as of yet you don’t have that definitive, ‘Yeah, this guy called me and said, people, go look for tea party and patriot applications.’”

“My gut tells me that too many people knew that this wrongdoing was going on before the election,” Issa said, “and at least by some sort of convenient, benign neglect allowed it to go on through the election.
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View the complete article, including video, at:

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/darrell-i...om-washington/

[bsteadman]

War of words escalates between Issa and White House

American Thinker
Rick Moran
6/3/2013

Excerpt:

Rep. Darrell Issa didn't mince any words when describing White House press secretary Jay Carney yesterday:

It began when Issa told Crowley that the White House was misleading the public about the extent of the IRS controversy.

"Their paid liar, their spokesperson, pictured behind, he's still making up things about what happens in calling this local rogue," Issa said, motioning towards a photograph of Carney on the screen behind Crowley. "The reason the (IRS official) Lois Lerner tried to take the Fifth is not because there is a rogue in Cincinnati, it's because this is a problem that was coordinated in all likelihood right out of Washington headquarters and we're getting to proving it."

These claims were based, Issa said, on interviews with IRS officials conducted by his committee and the House Ways and Means Committee, though as of now no definitive account has been made public establishing that the IRS officials engaged in the targeting of conservative groups, in the Cincinnati office, were doing so at the direction of officials in Washington, D.C.

"The president's spokesperson is saying whatever is convenient at the time and the story changes," Issa told Crowley. "What we have is people coming in to transcribed interviews. They're saying under penalty of crimes that certain things are true. We have subpoenaed documents that would support that, that they say, e-mails that went back and forth. The administration is so far not providing those documents. As we get those documents, as we will get Fast and Furious documents eventually and so on, we will learn the whole truth."

The pushback from the White House, in the person of David Plouffe, was a vicious smear of Issa that was debunked 20 years ago:

"Strong words from Mr Grand Theft Auto and suspected arsonist/insurance swindler," tweeted David Plouffe, the political guru (and unofficial adviser) for President Obama, referring to the chairman of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.

"And loose ethically today," Plouffe ended his tweet, linking to a story about Issa answering questions on CNN's "State of the Union" with Candy Crowley about the controversy over IRS staffers targeting conservative groups for scrutiny, in which Issa referred to White House press secretary Jay Carney as a "paid liar."

Asked for a response to Plouffe's tweet, Issa's spokesman Frederick Hill told CNN, "Looks like the Chairman hit a nerve today. Hopefully President Obama follows Plouffe on Twitter and may finally see some information from a senior advisor about what's going on at the IRS."

It's interesting that Plouffe would mention ethics, considering the fact that he worked for David Axelrod's company who handled Mayor Richard Daley's elections in Chicago.

Yeah - strong ethics there.

The arson charge is a smear, plain and simple. But calling Carney a liar crosses one of those invisible lines in Washington. With so many people lying all the time, choosing to use that epithet and applying it to one person is kind of silly.
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View the complete article at:

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/...ite_house.html