May 15, 2014, 2013 / Maria News

Attorney General to investigate IRS targeting of conservative groups

By Catholic Online

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) – The IRS has since admitted that the staff of its Cincinnati office engaged in such activity. Documents suggest at least three other IRS offices did the same.

IRS officials in both Washington and California IRS officials contacted conservative groups to demand more information before approving the groups’ requests for tax-exempt status.

A legal group representing numerous conservative organizations called American Center for Law and Justice provided CNN with four such letters: one each from IRS offices in Washington; Cincinnati; El Monte, California, and Laguna Niguel, California. The words “patriots” or “tea party” figured in the names of each group that received the letter.

Lois Lerner, director of tax exempt organizations for the IRS, said last week that the IRS had targeted some groups for further review as they had those words in their names. Lerner said the activity took place at the IRS office in Cincinnati that handles most applications for 501(c)(4) status.

In addition, a draft report from the inspector general for the IRS says that agents were on the lookout to give special scrutiny to groups with “tea party” and “patriots” in their names. Groups criticizing “how the country is being run” were also being targeted by the IRS.

In January 2012, the criteria was revised as “political action-type organizations involved in limiting/expanding government, educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, social economic reform/movement.” According to the report, IRS officials knew about the targeting of conservative groups in June 2011 — and that the practice began as early as March 2010.

White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Tuesday that he’s “confident” no one at the White House was involved in the practice. Carney said he is “sure some people knew about the stories. But we were not aware of any activity or any review by the inspector general.”

Obama called the IRS’ alleged actions “outrageous” and said personnel involved “have to be held accountable.” Some Republicans criticized the president for not speaking out on the issue immediately. He said he learned about it through news reports late last week.

© 2013, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

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June 29, 2012 / MariaNews.com

Issa drops bombshell letter at Holder contempt hearing

By Catholic Online
WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) – The letter contains information about wiretap applications that would tell anyone reading them what tactics were being used in the operation. The information in the letter directly contradicts statements by the Attorney General that such information did not exist in the applications.

Normally the letter would be kept from the public because they are under court seal, however Issa’s dropping the letter is technically protected under the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution. That clause is intended to protect members of the legislature from arrest while on their way to cast votes on measures to which a president would object.

Holder has stated previously that such information did not exist, and the letter now stands on the record in stark opposition to that claim. The wiretap applications were signed by senior Department of Justice (DOJ) officials which makes it unlikely that Holder was ignorant of their contents.

The ongoing hearings are linked to Fast and Furious, a botched DOJ attempt to gain information on Mexican drug cartels. The plan was to smuggle US weapons across the border into Mexico then see at which crime scenes they turned up. However, the weapons were lost and have never been recovered. Two were found at a murder scene where US Border Patrol Agent, Brian Terry was killed. Hundreds of deaths in Mexico are also thought connected to the missing weapons.

The letter submitted by Issa contains specific details including exactly who bought how many guns and for how much.  It also says how many guns were recovered in Mexico. The letter also contains financial information on each of four purchasers listed in the letter. Four men paid some $373,000 in cash for the weapons despite having no income reported for the previous year, an obvious sign of cartel smugglers.

With new revelations now made public, it is likely that pressure will mount against Eric Holder and the Democrats in Congress who want to protect him, and the President from scandal.

© 2012, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.
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June 20, 2012 / MariaNews.com

Obama does Holder a solid favor with executive privilege

By Catholic Online

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) – Executive privilege means that the president or other members of the Executive branch may stonewall a case, compelling a prosecutorial body to show that the information being withheld by the executive is essential to doing justice.

Specifically, Obama has given the privilege to Holder whom Congress recently ordered to turn over documents related to the case. Thanks to Obama, Holder will not have to turn those documents over — for now.

The announcement comes as the House Committee on Oversight and Government reform meets to discuss whether or not to charge the Attorney General with contempt for failing to hand over the documents. The original subpoena for the documents was issued on October 25, 2011.

Obama’s order now makes it illegal for Holder to cooperate with Congress by handing over the documents. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) called the order “untimely.”

Issa has indicated that the committee is ready to respond to the orders. “I claim not to be a constitutional scholar but the House is working to figure out what assertions may in fact arrive and we will take notice of them,” Issa told reporters.

The entire affair is ironic because it is the Democratic party that frequently lobbies for stricter gun laws. Meanwhile they are criticizing the enforcement of current laws by house Republicans against an alleged gun-running president.

It is made more ironic by the fact that the President and Attorney General are entrusted to uphold the law, not circumvent its enforcement.

According to The Blaze, executive privilege has been asserted 25 times since Ronald Regan. They also published this list.

President Barack Obama: 1

President George W. Bush: 6

President Bill Clinton: 14

President George H.W. Bush: 1

President Ronald Reagan: 3

© 2012, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

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