Posted on 06/19/2013 3:57:21 AM PDT by tobyhill
An Internal Revenue Service manager who described himself as a "conservative Republican" told congressional investigators that no one in the agency's Cincinnati office was trying to target tea party organizations for political reasons, according to an interview transcript released Tuesday.
The manager, John Shafer, said he and an employee in his screening unit decided to pull applications for tax-exempt status filed by political groups and send them to managers in Washington. He said they were aware of the controversy over the groups and wanted to ensure they were treated uniformly.
"Because of media attention that he had seen, he had concerns about this being a high-profile case," Shafer said. He said he believed the screening was motivated only by the need for "consistency and identifying issues that needed to have further development."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
You have to wonder how they found this lying idiot.
I call B.S. on this man. It’s a bit late, but the Damage Control people as still trying to contain the damage, both direct and collateral.
The NJ Gov is a Republican too, that doesn’t make him a conservative.
obviously this guy doesn’t realize that claiming to be a member of the republican party doesn’t translate into conservative cred.
It’s funny because the IRS already ADMITTED that they did target Tea Party groups. They can’t seem to keep their stories straight.
Yes and it was reported the elijah cummings lied and it was reported by chrissy matthews on mslsd. Even the demons can’t get behind this evil.
LLS
According to the Lefty loons everything Republicans say is a lie anyway, so citing the words of a Rep. as evidence is really dumb.
Rush calls these “Republicans” seminar callers.
There was an IRS insider on the radio the other night.
He said the IRS is a top-heavy organization, low level employees activities are CONSTANTLY monitored, and policy ALWAYS gets set at the highest levels.
IRS manager: “The sun always RISES in the West!”
The IRS is piling a new lie on top hoping to cover up their original criminal activity. The trouble with a lie is it never fits the facts and there are always loose ends that don’t mesh, requiring yet another lie; until the whole house of cards collapses.
Mr. Shafer doesn’t pass the smell test.
A local IRS manager just doesn’t decide to send taxpayer files off to Washington. There is always a discussion with immediate supervisors and perhaps the local director, plus discussion with Washington as to whether the planned action is necessary. That discussion covers all of the points of concern and those points are reduced to writing. Where are the associated e-mails?
And, too, these applications are entered into the computer system the day of arrival. The clock starts ticking looking for completion. Why was the system over ridden to permit a 2 year delay? Who approved the delays?
This also smells like Elijah Cummings and an effort to turn off the engine of a runaway scandal.
This is the meme the MSM will go forth with. Wait and see.
so, they didn’t do what they ADMITTED doing now?
I see...
There are no records of political donations for the other four Cincinnati IRS workers called to give interviews with Oversight Committee staff this week.
The I-Team confirmed they are John Shafer, a screening manager who began in March 2012; Gary Muthert, a screener who also began in March 2012; Liz Hofacre, a case coordinator from April 2010 to October 2010; and Joseph Herr, a group manager from April 2010 to August 2010.
There are no records of political donations for the other four Cincinnati IRS workers called to give interviews with Oversight Committee staff this week.
The I-Team confirmed they are John Shafer, a screening manager who began in March 2012; Gary Muthert, a screener who also began in March 2012; Liz Hofacre, a case coordinator from April 2010 to October 2010; and Joseph Herr, a group manager from April 2010 to August 2010.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/06/18/irs-managers-interview-transcript-adds-little-to-debate/
The main new takeaways, for those following the IRS investigation:
- Mr. Shafer simply doesn’t recall some details of the early stages of the IRS scrutiny of tea party groups. By all accounts so far, the targeting of conservative groups started in his IRS unit in Cincinnati, which screened applications for tax-exempt status from around the country. In February 2010, one of Mr. Shafer’s screeners flagged a single tea-party group’s application for extra scrutiny, and Washington officials agreed that similar cases should be scrutinized to make sure they were not engaging in too much political campaign activity. But Mr. Shafer doesn’t recall several important details of what happened after the first tea-party case was identified.
- Mr. Shafer’s statements conflict in a few respects with those of other IRS employees interviewed in the congressional investigation. Mr. Shafer, for example, denies telling a screener to search for other “tea party” cases by name during early 2010. The screener has said otherwise.
- Mr. Shafer says that when higher-ups in Washington decided they were interested in reviewing the first tea-party case, he told workers that similar cases should be held, pending a decision about how to handle them. But he said he never said all tea-party cases should be held.
- The interview also provided evidence that IRS officials in Washington officials proposed taking a handful of the cases, and asked the Cincinnati office to hold the other similar cases. According to the transcript, an email to Mr. Shafer from March of 2010 says the Washington office “does not want all of the Tea Party cases. They only want two of them and want us to hold the remainder. We can discuss who should hold them if you would like.”
This is a file with 4 pages of transcript
From this article:
Darrell Issa Furious After Democrat Releases IRS Transcript That Blows Up His Investigation
http://www.businessinsider.com/irs-scandal-transcripts-obama-tea-party-targeting-2013-6
This guy IMO has some mental issues. A need to be noticed Narcism?
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