The Congressional probe into determining who was responsible for the Internal Revenue Service’s multi-year policy of discriminatory audits and examinations of conservative organizations applying for tax-exempt status moved up into the United States Treasury Department today when J. Russell George, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, disclosed that that he informed the Treasury General Counsel on June 4, 2012 and Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin “shortly thereafter” about the details of his investigation. We now have another confirmation that former Treasury Secretary “Timothy Geithner Is the Key to the IRS Scandal” and any involvement by President Barack Obama of using the IRS against an Enemies List.
Last week in Breitbart’s Big Government, I published IRS WARNED EMPLOYEES NOT TO TARGET 501(C)4 DONORS IN 2011. The report featured a July 7, 2011 memorandum written and hand signed by Acting IRS Commissioner Steven T. Miller that appeared to call into question the truthfulness of at least two separate days of his testimony under oath to Congressional Committees last year regarding his denials that Tea Party and other conservative groups were not being targeted for extra investigative scrutiny by the IRS. Mr. Miller has since tendered his resignation effective in June, but he did agree to testify to the House Ways and Means Committee today.
Mr. Miller, who is a career civil servant at the IRS, holds a Juris Doctorate law degree Master of Laws in taxation and worked as an attorney in the IRS Chief Counsel’s seemed to have an extremely very poor memory today regarding what he knew and when did he know it. But under laser like questioning from Congress, he did recall that he was aware the IRS Tax Exempt Department, managed by Lois Lerner, applied more rigorous standards for determining the eligibility of conservative organizations with the names Tea Party, Patriot and 9-12. Mr. Miller termed the IRS extra scrutiny by the IRS to be “inappropriate, but not illegal.”
Mr. Miller blamed the delay for determining the tax exempt status on the flood of new application by organizations following the January 21, 2010 Supreme Court 5-4 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that overturned the McCain-Feingold Act limitations on the rights of Americans to band together and make independent political expenditures.
Mr. Miller blamed the poor customer service on the IRS only having a small staff of 140 to handle the increase in applications from 1500 in 2009 to 3500 in 2010. But under blistering questioning, Mr. Miller admitted that all the 140 man IRS Tax-Exempt and Government-Exempt Department is located in Cincinnati along with their key manager during the audits, Sarah Hall Ingram. When confronted with revelations Ms. Hall had received over $100,000 in discretionary bonuses in the last four years and was promoted within the IRS to manage data under Obamacare, Mr. Miller referred to Ms. Hall as an “outstanding public servant.”
As an accomplished lawyer, Steven T. Miller’s testimony to Congress was almost successful in painting himself as an incompetent manager that led an organization that although institutionally biased against conservatives that wanted to shrink the size and power of government, was probably not criminally punishable.
Mr. Miller is aware that until 1977, taxpayer information was considered public record and the rules regarding disclosure were left to the Executive Branch of government. But after the Nixon IRS scandal, Congress passed Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Tax Code in 1976, which eliminated any Presidential discretion regarding IRS public disclosure of tax records or sharing tax information between different Executive Branch Departments. There are very limited national security and federal agency criminal investigation exceptions to the law, but none would seem to apply to Tea Parties.
But Inspector General J. Russell George’s revelation that he disclosed the details of his investigation to the Treasury General Counsel on June 4, 2012 and Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin “shortly thereafter,” may mean that the Executive Branch may have committed a crime. A stunned Steven Miller looked at Inspector General George and said: “We are limited in what we can supply to local law enforcement.”
The disclosure of potential violations of Section 6103 of the IRS Code has already motivated Darrell Issa as Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to call Mr. Wolin to testify next Wednesday. It is very probable that Mr. Wolin will testify that he told his former boss about the audits of conservatives on or about June 4, 2012. If Mr. Geithner told President Barack Obama before the 2012 Presidential election, America may be on the verge of a Constitutional crisis.
CHRISS STREET & PAUL PRESTON
Present: “The Agenda 21 Radio Talk Show”
Streaming Live Monday through Friday at 10 to Noon http://www.kcnr1460.com/
Follow Blogs: www.chrissstreetandcompany.com & www.agenda21radio.com