Posted on 06/17/2014 5:32:12 PM PDT by QT3.14
Washington superlawyer Cleta Mitchell represents True the Vote, one of the groups illegally targeted by the IRS in the scandals that have exposed the agency as a partisan operation. True the Vote’s Catherine Engelbrecht has been harassed by federal law enforcement authorities representing three different federal agencies. They represent the price of politics in the Age of Obama.
Cleta has just served the letter below on the attorneys at the Department of Justice representing the IRS in True the Vote’s pending lawsuit referenced in the subject line below. She has also served the letter on Steptoe & Johnson partner Brigida Benitez. Benitez comes in for special attention in Cleta’s letter; she represents the IRS defendants who are sued in their individual capacity.
Cleta has graciously forwarded a copy of her letter to us. Given the newsworthiness of the subject, we are promptly posting it verbatim without further comment for the moment:
(Excerpt) Read more at powerlineblog.com ...
Makes one yearn for honest presidents like Richard Nixon.
He didn’t actually succeed, did he?
The key word here is "spoliation." That term strikes fear into the heart of any lawyer with a shady client. Let me see if I can explain -
Basically, if you are caught destroying evidence that you knew or should have known was relevant to a lawsuit, the court presumes that whatever you destroyed would have proved your opponent's case.
So TTV now won't have to prove that the IRS was illegally using its power to harass the administration's political opponents - it's presumed because the IRS destroyed the documents.
It's basically the death penalty for litigators. What's more, the jury is instructed on spoliation (which irritates them) and the judge will be very annoyed because it's basically contemptuous. And even a liberal judge understands that he can't let any party - even the government - get away with that in his courtroom.
If the penalties for destroying evidence weren't severe, everyone would be doing it.
To be truthful, Nixon asked his IRS Commissioner if he would undertake some harassment...and his IRS Commissioner told him "Hell, no."
Accordingly, as one of the articles of impeachment being prepared against Nixon, he was accused of attempting to employ the IRS in a campaign of harassment against his enemies.
In this case, it is absolutely provable that the IRS engaged in harassment of Obama's enemies. But, as yet, there is no evidence that they were instructed to do so.
No doubt those emails would implicate at least half of the democrat congress.
Justice would be served if a computer or document were found to name Catherine Englebrecht personally, allowing her to sue for a violation of civil rights. That could mean she could go after people individually and they couldn’t hide behind government lawyers. Once they are footing their own bills and looking at losing their own money or even doing time we’d hear some high pitched squealing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.