info
Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss
Trump DOJ Lets Swamp Thing Lois Lerner Skate
5 views
Skip to first unread message
Joe Cooper
Sep 10, 2017, 7:47:37 AM9/10/17
to
Critics may be forgiven for doubting the seriousness of President Trump's
promise to "drain the swamp" in light of his Department of Justice's
decision to give one of D.C.'s swamp things a get out of jail free and
not charge former IRS official Lois Lerner in the Tea Party targeting
scandal:
[FOX]
The Trump administration has no plans to charge former IRS official Lois
Lerner over her role in the Tea Party targeting scandal, the Justice
Department said Friday in response to calls by Republican lawmakers to
revisit the case.
In a letter to the lawmakers, the Justice Department said that "reopening
the criminal investigation would not be appropriate based on the
available evidence."
This past April, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-
Texas, and Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., had asked Attorney General Jeff
Sessions to take a "fresh look" at the case.
Despite numerous hearings and inquiries into the tough treatment of
conservative groups by the tax agency during the 2010 and 2012 elections,
the Obama Justice Department had announced in 2015 that no one at the IRS
would be prosecuted. They said at the time that investigators had "found
no evidence that any IRS official acted based on political,
discriminatory, corrupt or other inappropriate motives that would support
a criminal prosecution.".
The Republicans who requested a fresh look at the case were disappointed
in the Trump DOJ's response.
"This is a terrible decision," Brady said. "It sends the message that the
same legal, ethical, and constitutional standards we all live by do not
apply to Washington political appointees." ...
Brady said appointees "will now have the green light to target Americans
for their political beliefs and mislead investigators without ever being
held accountable for their lawlessness."
[/FOX]
Based on the available evidence, Lois Lerner should have been measured
for an orange jumpsuit a long time ago. Lerner was a key participant in
the scheme to turn the most feared and powerful agency of the federal
government, the IRS, into a political weapon and campaign arm of the
Obama administration. If nothing else, Lois Lerner should be prosecuted
for contempt of Congress for her semi-testimony regarding her own missing
emails and smashed hard drives.
As Investors Business Daily editorialized in April of 2015:
After pleading her innocence at that 2013 hearing, Lerner went on to
invoke her Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. This raised the
question of whether the Constitution let her remain silent after she was
not silent and pleaded her case.
The House decided that no, it doesn't. In May of last year it voted to
hold her in contempt of Congress. The Ways and Means Committee went so
far as to send the Justice Department a criminal referral with potential
charges that could have meant 11 years in jail.
Lerner waived her rights not only when she pleaded her innocence before
Congress, but also when she shared with DOJ information she was
withholding from Congress.
Hans Von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, says
government officials can't pick and choose when and where they invoke
their Fifth Amendment rights. They can't legally give information to the
DOJ that they withhold from Congress.
When Lerner gave a lengthy interview to the government, she waived the
Fifth. There's no doubt about it," says Von Spakovsky. "The law is
crystal clear here in the District of Columbia."
[/Investors Business Daily]
Certainly the actions Lerner was covering up with the help of others like
the current head of the IRS, John Koskinen, warrant prosecution. Her
deliberate and orchestrated targeting of political opponents like the Tea
Party for daring to oppose the Obama administration's implementation of
Obamacare is more worthy of dictatorships like Venezuela than democracies
like the United States.
In defending her curious 2013 non-testimony in Politico, Lerner asked us
to feel sorry for her and not her intended political victims:
[investors.com]
As when she cooperated with the Justice Department but not Congress,
Lerner's record-setting assault on the truth continued in Politico with
her tale of woe. Still insisting she did nothing wrong, she feels she has
to tell her side of the story. She just won't tell it to Congress and the
American people under oath.
Lerner fails to appreciate the irony of invoking her right against self-
incrimination while trampling on the rights of others. It was her IRS
that demanded to know from Tea Party members what books they read and the
text of their prayers.
Frankly, we are more inclined to feel sorry for the likes of Becky
Gerritson of the Wetumpka, Ala., Tea Party. Along with other IRS targets,
she gave Lerner and the rest of the Obama administration a well-needed
civics lesson in her congressional testimony.
"In Wetumpka," she said, "we are patriotic Americans; we peacefully
assemble; we petition our government; we exercise our right to free
speech. We don't understand why the government tried to stop us."
Though she sought and received the protection of the Fifth Amendment,
Lerner tried to strip from the Tea Party and other conservative groups
the protection of the First Amendment. If she needs a shoulder to cry on,
we might advise her to call Catherine Engelbrecht of True the Vote, an
organization dedicated to clean elections without vote fraud. Engelbrecht
couldn't invoke the Fifth or refuse to answer questions when Washington
came down on her. ...
Before July 2010, when Engelbrecht filed with Lerner's IRS seeking tax-
exempt status for her group, she and her family had no contact with any
government agency of any kind. But after her filing, she was buried by an
alphabet soup of government harassers, from the IRS to the ATF and OSHA.
"This is what the beginning of tyranny looks like," she told
Breitbart.com.
[/investors.com]
Indeed, it is. Along with mystery of why Lois Lerner is not already in
prison is the mystery of why IRS chief John Koskinen isn't as well for
participating in the cover-up involving destruction of records and
emails, conveniently destroyed hard drives, and withholding evidence from
Congress. An impeachment resolution, introduced by House Oversight
chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), Rep. James Jordan (R-Ohio) and 18 other
committee members, accuses Koskinen of making false statements under
oath, failing to comply with a subpoena, and failing to notify Congress
that key evidence was missing or destroyed. As they explained it to Fox
News' Sean Hannity:
"The heart of this concern is that they had in their possession documents
that were under subpoena and they destroyed those," Chaffetz said.
"Imagine, Sean, if the IRS had asked you for those documents and you
said, 'Well, I had them, but I went ahead and destroyed them.' What would
happen to you?"
Likely we would be incarcerated and not just impeached. As the
Washington Times notes, Koskinen is knee-deep in the IRS corruption and
itse cover-up:
Among the specific charges leveled by Mr. Chaffetz and 18 of his fellow
Republicans on the committee were that Mr. Koskinen, appointed by
President Obama in December 2013 after the targeting scandal broke,
misled Congress when he said he had turned over all of former IRS senior
executive Lois G. Lerner's emails and that he oversaw destruction of
evidence when his agency got rid of backup tapes that contained the
emails.
Lying to Congress and destruction of evidence under subpoena are federal
crimes, and that includes the arrogeant Mr. Koskinen, who is just one
example of being an Obama donor can get you a good job with the
administration. As Investor's Business Daily noted:
Certainly it might be argued that Koskinen's current position
is owed to four decades of being a prodigious Democratic donor.
Koskinen has contributed to every Democratic presidential
candidate since 1980, including $2,300 to Obama in 2008,
and $5,000 to Obama in 2012.
Of course, being an Obama donor with a government job in and of itself is
not a crime, but how Koskinen has used that job is positively criminal.
Koskinen once confessed before Congress that obeying the law was a
difficult task for him and Lerner:
"Whenever we can, we follow the law," IRS chief John Koskinen recently
told the House Ways and Committee in a Freudian slip of the truth that
says it all.
It is worth noting that one of the charges in the impeachment of Richard
Nixon in the Watergate scandal was just considering the use of the IRS
for political purposes. People went to jail in Watergate for
participating in and covering up a crime. So too should John Koskinen,
along with Lois Lerner.
How can you drain the swamp and let the lizards slither away?
Source: http://bit.ly/2gWbnuT
--
"The Marxists, communists and fascists of the Democrat Party have
launched a strategy of deception, projection, and a new generation of
brown shirts who fanatically believe that their violence is honorable,
and necessary, to save America from some kind of a Fourth Reich
perpetrated by the GOP." (Douglas Gibbs )
promise to "drain the swamp" in light of his Department of Justice's
decision to give one of D.C.'s swamp things a get out of jail free and
not charge former IRS official Lois Lerner in the Tea Party targeting
scandal:
[FOX]
The Trump administration has no plans to charge former IRS official Lois
Lerner over her role in the Tea Party targeting scandal, the Justice
Department said Friday in response to calls by Republican lawmakers to
revisit the case.
In a letter to the lawmakers, the Justice Department said that "reopening
the criminal investigation would not be appropriate based on the
available evidence."
This past April, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-
Texas, and Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., had asked Attorney General Jeff
Sessions to take a "fresh look" at the case.
Despite numerous hearings and inquiries into the tough treatment of
conservative groups by the tax agency during the 2010 and 2012 elections,
the Obama Justice Department had announced in 2015 that no one at the IRS
would be prosecuted. They said at the time that investigators had "found
no evidence that any IRS official acted based on political,
discriminatory, corrupt or other inappropriate motives that would support
a criminal prosecution.".
The Republicans who requested a fresh look at the case were disappointed
in the Trump DOJ's response.
"This is a terrible decision," Brady said. "It sends the message that the
same legal, ethical, and constitutional standards we all live by do not
apply to Washington political appointees." ...
Brady said appointees "will now have the green light to target Americans
for their political beliefs and mislead investigators without ever being
held accountable for their lawlessness."
[/FOX]
Based on the available evidence, Lois Lerner should have been measured
for an orange jumpsuit a long time ago. Lerner was a key participant in
the scheme to turn the most feared and powerful agency of the federal
government, the IRS, into a political weapon and campaign arm of the
Obama administration. If nothing else, Lois Lerner should be prosecuted
for contempt of Congress for her semi-testimony regarding her own missing
emails and smashed hard drives.
As Investors Business Daily editorialized in April of 2015:
After pleading her innocence at that 2013 hearing, Lerner went on to
invoke her Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. This raised the
question of whether the Constitution let her remain silent after she was
not silent and pleaded her case.
The House decided that no, it doesn't. In May of last year it voted to
hold her in contempt of Congress. The Ways and Means Committee went so
far as to send the Justice Department a criminal referral with potential
charges that could have meant 11 years in jail.
Lerner waived her rights not only when she pleaded her innocence before
Congress, but also when she shared with DOJ information she was
withholding from Congress.
Hans Von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, says
government officials can't pick and choose when and where they invoke
their Fifth Amendment rights. They can't legally give information to the
DOJ that they withhold from Congress.
When Lerner gave a lengthy interview to the government, she waived the
Fifth. There's no doubt about it," says Von Spakovsky. "The law is
crystal clear here in the District of Columbia."
[/Investors Business Daily]
Certainly the actions Lerner was covering up with the help of others like
the current head of the IRS, John Koskinen, warrant prosecution. Her
deliberate and orchestrated targeting of political opponents like the Tea
Party for daring to oppose the Obama administration's implementation of
Obamacare is more worthy of dictatorships like Venezuela than democracies
like the United States.
In defending her curious 2013 non-testimony in Politico, Lerner asked us
to feel sorry for her and not her intended political victims:
[investors.com]
As when she cooperated with the Justice Department but not Congress,
Lerner's record-setting assault on the truth continued in Politico with
her tale of woe. Still insisting she did nothing wrong, she feels she has
to tell her side of the story. She just won't tell it to Congress and the
American people under oath.
Lerner fails to appreciate the irony of invoking her right against self-
incrimination while trampling on the rights of others. It was her IRS
that demanded to know from Tea Party members what books they read and the
text of their prayers.
Frankly, we are more inclined to feel sorry for the likes of Becky
Gerritson of the Wetumpka, Ala., Tea Party. Along with other IRS targets,
she gave Lerner and the rest of the Obama administration a well-needed
civics lesson in her congressional testimony.
"In Wetumpka," she said, "we are patriotic Americans; we peacefully
assemble; we petition our government; we exercise our right to free
speech. We don't understand why the government tried to stop us."
Though she sought and received the protection of the Fifth Amendment,
Lerner tried to strip from the Tea Party and other conservative groups
the protection of the First Amendment. If she needs a shoulder to cry on,
we might advise her to call Catherine Engelbrecht of True the Vote, an
organization dedicated to clean elections without vote fraud. Engelbrecht
couldn't invoke the Fifth or refuse to answer questions when Washington
came down on her. ...
Before July 2010, when Engelbrecht filed with Lerner's IRS seeking tax-
exempt status for her group, she and her family had no contact with any
government agency of any kind. But after her filing, she was buried by an
alphabet soup of government harassers, from the IRS to the ATF and OSHA.
"This is what the beginning of tyranny looks like," she told
Breitbart.com.
[/investors.com]
Indeed, it is. Along with mystery of why Lois Lerner is not already in
prison is the mystery of why IRS chief John Koskinen isn't as well for
participating in the cover-up involving destruction of records and
emails, conveniently destroyed hard drives, and withholding evidence from
Congress. An impeachment resolution, introduced by House Oversight
chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), Rep. James Jordan (R-Ohio) and 18 other
committee members, accuses Koskinen of making false statements under
oath, failing to comply with a subpoena, and failing to notify Congress
that key evidence was missing or destroyed. As they explained it to Fox
News' Sean Hannity:
"The heart of this concern is that they had in their possession documents
that were under subpoena and they destroyed those," Chaffetz said.
"Imagine, Sean, if the IRS had asked you for those documents and you
said, 'Well, I had them, but I went ahead and destroyed them.' What would
happen to you?"
Likely we would be incarcerated and not just impeached. As the
Washington Times notes, Koskinen is knee-deep in the IRS corruption and
itse cover-up:
Among the specific charges leveled by Mr. Chaffetz and 18 of his fellow
Republicans on the committee were that Mr. Koskinen, appointed by
President Obama in December 2013 after the targeting scandal broke,
misled Congress when he said he had turned over all of former IRS senior
executive Lois G. Lerner's emails and that he oversaw destruction of
evidence when his agency got rid of backup tapes that contained the
emails.
Lying to Congress and destruction of evidence under subpoena are federal
crimes, and that includes the arrogeant Mr. Koskinen, who is just one
example of being an Obama donor can get you a good job with the
administration. As Investor's Business Daily noted:
Certainly it might be argued that Koskinen's current position
is owed to four decades of being a prodigious Democratic donor.
Koskinen has contributed to every Democratic presidential
candidate since 1980, including $2,300 to Obama in 2008,
and $5,000 to Obama in 2012.
Of course, being an Obama donor with a government job in and of itself is
not a crime, but how Koskinen has used that job is positively criminal.
Koskinen once confessed before Congress that obeying the law was a
difficult task for him and Lerner:
"Whenever we can, we follow the law," IRS chief John Koskinen recently
told the House Ways and Committee in a Freudian slip of the truth that
says it all.
It is worth noting that one of the charges in the impeachment of Richard
Nixon in the Watergate scandal was just considering the use of the IRS
for political purposes. People went to jail in Watergate for
participating in and covering up a crime. So too should John Koskinen,
along with Lois Lerner.
How can you drain the swamp and let the lizards slither away?
Source: http://bit.ly/2gWbnuT
--
"The Marxists, communists and fascists of the Democrat Party have
launched a strategy of deception, projection, and a new generation of
brown shirts who fanatically believe that their violence is honorable,
and necessary, to save America from some kind of a Fourth Reich
perpetrated by the GOP." (Douglas Gibbs )
Joe Cooper
Sep 13, 2017, 3:21:02 PM9/13/17
to
PIBB <nos...@nospam.invalid> wrote in news:XnsA7EC88E828E94F3QA2@
81.171.118.180:
> On 12:47 10 Sep 2017, Joe Cooper wrote:
>>
>> Source: http://bit.ly/2gWbnuT
>>
>
> From the American Thinker. For more info about this source.....
Evasion noted - you do not address the facts cited in the article. Why is
that?
81.171.118.180:
> On 12:47 10 Sep 2017, Joe Cooper wrote:
>>
>> Source: http://bit.ly/2gWbnuT
>>
>
> From the American Thinker. For more info about this source.....
Evasion noted - you do not address the facts cited in the article. Why is
that?
Joe Cooper
Sep 14, 2017, 2:16:51 PM9/14/17
to
PIBB <nos...@nospam.invalid> wrote in news:XnsA7F085EDF4BE6F3QA2@
81.171.118.180:
> To answer your question, there seems little point discussing points
> raised by an author who is living in an altered reality.
In other words, facts mean nothing to proggie twits. Thanks for the
clarification.
81.171.118.180:
> To answer your question, there seems little point discussing points
> raised by an author who is living in an altered reality.
In other words, facts mean nothing to proggie twits. Thanks for the
clarification.
NoBody
Sep 15, 2017, 6:35:54 AM9/15/17
to
On Thu, 14 Sep 2017 13:09:56 +0100, PIBB <nos...@nospam.invalid>
wrote:
>On 20:20 13 Sep 2017, Joe Cooper wrote:
>
>> PIBB <nos...@nospam.invalid> wrote in
>> news:XnsA7EC88E828E94F3QA2@ 81.171.118.180:
>>
>>> On 12:47 10 Sep 2017, Joe Cooper wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Source: http://bit.ly/2gWbnuT
>>>>
>>>
>>> From the American Thinker. For more info about this
>>> source.....
>>>
>>> "American Thinker (nicknamed 'American Stinker') is an
>>> online wingnut publication that's more or less the poor
>>> man's WND or Newsmax. They published articles by such
>>> conservative luminaries as Noel Sheppard (NewsBusters) and
>>> Pamela Geller and such alleged climate 'experts' as S. Fred
>>> Singer and Christopher Monckton.
>>>
>>> "The magazine is, of course, chock-full of right-wing
>>> conspiracy theories, woo-woo and pseudoscience.
>>>
>>> On the conspiracy side, they promote birtherism, "creeping
>>> sharia," red-baiting, and still occasionally prattle on
>>> about Vince Foster.
>>>
>>> On the science side, they concentrate on creationism and
>>> global warming denialism.
>>>
>>> See also: www.snopes.com/politics/obama/obamahandsign.asp
wrote:
>On 20:20 13 Sep 2017, Joe Cooper wrote:
>
>> PIBB <nos...@nospam.invalid> wrote in
>> news:XnsA7EC88E828E94F3QA2@ 81.171.118.180:
>>
>>> On 12:47 10 Sep 2017, Joe Cooper wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Source: http://bit.ly/2gWbnuT
>>>>
>>>
>>> From the American Thinker. For more info about this
>>> source.....
>>>
>>> online wingnut publication that's more or less the poor
>>> man's WND or Newsmax. They published articles by such
>>> conservative luminaries as Noel Sheppard (NewsBusters) and
>>> Pamela Geller and such alleged climate 'experts' as S. Fred
>>> Singer and Christopher Monckton.
>>>
>>> "The magazine is, of course, chock-full of right-wing
>>> conspiracy theories, woo-woo and pseudoscience.
>>>
>>> On the conspiracy side, they promote birtherism, "creeping
>>> sharia," red-baiting, and still occasionally prattle on
>>> about Vince Foster.
>>>
>>> On the science side, they concentrate on creationism and
>>> global warming denialism.
>>>
>>> See also: www.snopes.com/politics/obama/obamahandsign.asp
>>
>>
>> Evasion noted - you do not address the facts cited in the
>> article. Why is that?
>
>Dishonest quoting noted. The text you omitted has been restored.
>>
>> Evasion noted - you do not address the facts cited in the
>> article. Why is that?
>
>
>To answer your question, there seems little point discussing points
>raised by an author who is living in an altered reality.
And yet people try to reach you anyway...
>To answer your question, there seems little point discussing points
>raised by an author who is living in an altered reality.
Joe Cooper
Sep 19, 2017, 2:49:01 PM9/19/17
to
PIBB <nos...@nospam.invalid> wrote in news:XnsA7F19FF3C144DF3QA2@
81.171.118.180:
> As I said before, American Thinker is an online wingnut
> publication that's the poor man's WND or Newsmax.
Yes, you have vomited such nonsense more than once. What you have NOT done
is refute any information provided by various authors contributing to the
site.
Is there some reason you refuse to back up your mouth with actual,
documented facts?
i didn't think so.
81.171.118.180:
> As I said before, American Thinker is an online wingnut
> publication that's the poor man's WND or Newsmax.
Yes, you have vomited such nonsense more than once. What you have NOT done
is refute any information provided by various authors contributing to the
site.
Is there some reason you refuse to back up your mouth with actual,
documented facts?
i didn't think so.
NoBody
Sep 20, 2017, 7:31:30 AM9/20/17
to
On Tue, 19 Sep 2017 20:57:17 +0100, PIBB <nos...@nospam.invalid>
wrote:
>On 19:48 19 Sep 2017, Joe Cooper wrote:
>
>> PIBB <nos...@nospam.invalid> wrote in
>> news:XnsA7F19FF3C144DF3QA2@ 81.171.118.180:
>>
>>> As I said before, American Thinker is an online wingnut
>>> publication that's the poor man's WND or Newsmax.
>>
>> Yes, you have vomited such nonsense more than once. What you
>> have NOT done is refute any information provided by various
>> authors contributing to the site.
>>
>> Is there some reason you refuse to back up your mouth with
>> actual, documented facts?
>>
>> i didn't think so.
>
>The articles in American Thinker reflect a skewed alternative reality
>of disconnected thoughts and hyperbolic outrage. Where do you start
>with a magazine full of right-wing conspiracy theories, woo-woo and
>pseudoscience, birtherism, creeping sharia, creationism and so on.
Well there's irony in action...
wrote:
>On 19:48 19 Sep 2017, Joe Cooper wrote:
>
>> PIBB <nos...@nospam.invalid> wrote in
>> news:XnsA7F19FF3C144DF3QA2@ 81.171.118.180:
>>
>>> As I said before, American Thinker is an online wingnut
>>> publication that's the poor man's WND or Newsmax.
>>
>> Yes, you have vomited such nonsense more than once. What you
>> have NOT done is refute any information provided by various
>> authors contributing to the site.
>>
>> Is there some reason you refuse to back up your mouth with
>> actual, documented facts?
>>
>> i didn't think so.
>
>of disconnected thoughts and hyperbolic outrage. Where do you start
>with a magazine full of right-wing conspiracy theories, woo-woo and
>pseudoscience, birtherism, creeping sharia, creationism and so on.
Well there's irony in action...
Joe Cooper
Sep 20, 2017, 12:01:45 PM9/20/17
to
On 19 Sep 2017, you wrote in alt.fan.rush-limbaugh:
> The articles in American Thinker reflect a skewed alternative reality
> of disconnected thoughts and hyperbolic outrage. Where do you start
> with a magazine full of right-wing conspiracy theories, woo-woo and
> pseudoscience, birtherism, creeping sharia, creationism and so on.
> The articles in American Thinker reflect a skewed alternative reality
> of disconnected thoughts and hyperbolic outrage. Where do you start
> with a magazine full of right-wing conspiracy theories, woo-woo and
> pseudoscience, birtherism, creeping sharia, creationism and so on.
Yes, you have vomited such nonsense more than once. What you
have NOT done is refute any information provided by various
authors contributing to the site.
Is there some reason you refuse to back up your mouth with
actual, documented facts?
have NOT done is refute any information provided by various
authors contributing to the site.
Is there some reason you refuse to back up your mouth with
actual, documented facts?
Joe Cooper
Sep 23, 2017, 2:32:46 PM9/23/17
to
PIBB <nos...@nospam.invalid> wrote in news:XnsA7F7AF1809DC0F3QA2@
81.171.118.180:
> Sadly, you might even admire the pseudo intellectualism of the
> American Thinker. However if you truly believe the skewed garbage
> they publish then more fool you.
81.171.118.180:
> Sadly, you might even admire the pseudo intellectualism of the
> American Thinker. However if you truly believe the skewed garbage
> they publish then more fool you.
Jedi Master
Sep 23, 2017, 4:19:23 PM9/23/17
to
0 new messages