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On March 9th Matt Taibbi testified before the House Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.At the same time, he was testifying before the committee the IRS paid a visit to his house–an almost unheard-of tactic used by the agency. Usually, they use the mail. The weaponization of Government? Not a thing, we are told. And if you disagree the IRS will remind you of that fact, forcefully and in person.John did a write-up yesterday that lays out the facts, although I admit to being more cynical than he. I need to get a few beers or bourbons in...

The Treasury Department’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis has been illegally rifling through and filing away the private financial records of US citizens, Treasury employees alleged. “This is such an invasion of privacy,” said one official. The intelligence division at the Treasury Department has repeatedly and systematically violated domestic surveillance laws by snooping on the private financial records of US citizens and companies, according to government sources. Over the past year, at least a dozen employees in another branch of the Treasury Department, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, have warned officials and Congress that US citizens’ and residents’ banking and...

When Barack Obama spoke at the 12th annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston, MA, many of us scratched our heads as to why the event was off-the-record. No photography, recording, or social media posting about Obama’s appearance was allowed. Obviously, he would not be talking about golf. But, with over 3,500 people in attendance, there was no way this speech would be hidden for long. As expected, a recording of Obama’s appearance was leaked. Obama said a lot of things over the course of an hour, but I’d like to focus on his claim that, while some people in...

The IRS overpaid nearly $3.5 billion in Obamacare tax credits last year that it cannot recoup because of constraints built into the program, frustrating Republicans who have failed to repeal the health care law but say that money could have been spent on programs for veterans or infrastructure. A Treasury watchdog said the government paid out roughly $24 billion in Obamacare subsidies in the heart of the 2017 tax-filing season, with $5.8 billion in overages. Of that, just $2.3 billion was clawed back, leaving $3.5 billion in outstanding excess payments. “The overpayments were that much?” said Rep. Phil Roe, Tennessee...

Former IRS executive Lois G. Lerner told a federal court last week that members of her family, including “young children,” face death threats and a real risk of physical harm if her explanation of the tea party targeting scandal becomes public.... Ms. Lerner and Holly Paz, her deputy at the IRS, filed documents in court Thursday saying tapes and transcripts of depositions they gave in a court case this year must remain sealed in perpetuity, or else they could spur an enraged public to retaliate.

Imagine that the Trump administration was singling out left-wing groups for discrimination, repression or punishment through both the revenue and justice system. I think we can all guess what the reaction would be: foaming outrage across the media, furious editorials and op-eds, dissection of Trump’s vicious sectarian and vindictive personality and the charge that the US had turned into a fascist state. Evidence has now surfaced confirming long-held claims that the Obama administration targeted conservative groups in just this way, and then tried to cover it up. Yet the media reaction has been muted, with coverage consisting mostly of brief...

The IRS on Thursday settled two lawsuits alleging the agency illegally targeted conservative groups under the Obama administration. One of the settlements stipulated the IRS issue a formal apology for illegally singling out conservative and tea party groups due to their political beliefs dating back to 2013. The other settlement, a class-action lawsuit brought by the NorCal Tea Party with 428 members, includes a “generous” multi-million dollar payout, according to a lawyer involved. “There is no excuse for this conduct,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement. “Hundreds of organizations were affected by these actions, and they deserve an...

IRS officials on a scheduled visit to Congress Wednesday bore the brunt of GOP criticism of the agency for Wednesday's revelation that it awarded Equifax a $7.25 million no-bid contract to maintain taxpayers' confidentiality. "This is an abject failure," said Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind. "This is beyond abject failure, it's a management failure."

The Internal Revenue Service will pay Equifax $7.25 million to verify taxpayers' identities and help prevent fraud under a no-bid contract issued last week, according to a report in Politico. The contract comes as lawmakers lash out at the company over the major security breach that exposed personal information of millions of Americans. Politico said the credit agency will "verify taxpayer identity" and "assist in ongoing identity verifications and validations" at the IRS.

The Internal Revenue Service was involved in a $5 million push to pressure Americans to buy Obamacare coverage, according to documents obtained from the watchdog group Judicial Watch. Under former president Obama, the Department of Health and Human Services and the White House's Behavioral Sciences Team created a $5 million program to target and pressure those who refused Obamacare and either decided to pay a penalty instead or were exempt from being forced to purchase coverage. "Attached are drafts of the letters that IRS will send to selected taxpayers who paid a penalty for failure to have coverage or who...

Lost emails, destroyed hard drives, foot dragging, stonewalling, and a smirking, sneering IRS commissioner doing his best to obscure the truth -- this has largely been the response by the Internal Revenue Service to investigations by Congress and FOIA requests from conservative groups trying to discover the truth about the IRS targeting scandal. But one federal judge appears to be just as curious as the rest of us about what exactly the IRS was up to when it targeted conservative groups for special scrutiny in approving their tax-exempt status. Washington Examiner: Judge Reggie B. Walton of the U.S. District Court...

Various media sources have reported that federal District Court Judge Reggie Walton has ordered the IRS to finally respond to various legal requests for information and documents made by the conservative tea party organizations that sued the agency. But the question that no one is asking is why that order was even necessary, and why the Justice Department, which is now supposedly under the control and authority of the new administration, hasn’t reversed its obstinate, inflexible, and stubborn defense of the IRS. It was over four years ago that the inspector general for tax administration at the Treasury Department released...

If the U.S. electorate were ever to grasp the full scope of what took place in the IRS, FBI and DOJ weaponization of government to specifically target people, no-one in Washington DC would ever be safe from the backlash. There’s enough material inside the IRS story for multiple Pulitzer prizes, in addition to severe and jaw-dropping revelations as to republican politicians who aided the overall scheme.  Start by finding out who in the IRS specifically sent 21 CD-ROM’s to the FBI, and find out who specifically received them inside the FBI, and what they did with them.

Does IRS chairman John Koskinen have superpowers?  Or does he know things so incriminating about everyone that he not only retains his job (in the face of demands for his firing), but flaunts his ability to offer succor to abusive bureaucrats? Ali Meyer reports in the Washington Free Beacon: The Internal Revenue Service rehired employees who were previously involved in agency misconduct such as falsifying documents or having unauthorized access to sensitive taxpayer information, according to an audit from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. Considering that identify theft is a major concern, auditors wanted to inspect the agency to ensure the...

The IRS failed to adequately store, backup, and search official records for use in Freedom of Information requests and other litigation, according to a new report released by the Treasury Inspector General of Tax Administration. Performing an independent audit, TIGTA found: The IRS’s current e-mail system and record retention policies do not ensure that e-mail records are saved and can be searched and retrieved for as long as needed. Additionally, repeated changes in electronic media storage policies, combined with a reliance on employees to maintain records on computer hard drives, has resulted in cases in which Federal records were lost...

The federal government currently wields a tremendous amount of power over the citizens of the United States, far more than the Founders intended. One manifestation of federal overreach is civil asset forfeiture. This practice allows the federal government to confiscate the wealth of its citizens upon the mere suspicion of wrongdoing. The IRS, not content with expropriating the wealth of its citizens on April 15 every year, has now taken up the practice of seizing funds that have been involved in perfectly legal transactions on the basis of a hunch. Thankfully, legislation in the House and the Senate has been...

Darrell Issa, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, says he is confident the story behind the IRS’s targeting of tea-party and conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status will eventually come out. But patience will have to be a virtue. Issa’s staff acknowledged late last month that the IRS had handed over to the committee a little more than 10 percent of the documents the IRS itself has admitted are relevant to the committee’s investigation. Issa mentioned the case of “Susanne,” a lawyer whom he said had worked for Democrats on the House Oversight Committee until 2008....

Hillary Clinton’s Department of State aides threatened a South Asian prime minister’s son with an IRS audit in an attempt to stop a Bangladesh government investigation of a close friend and donor of Clinton’s, The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group learned. A Bangladesh government commission was investigating multiple charges of financial mismanagement at Grameen Bank, beginning in May 2012. Muhammad Yunus, a major Clinton Foundation donor, served as managing director of the bank. Sajeeb Wazed Joy, son of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and permanent U.S. resident, recalled the account of the threatened IRS audit to TheDCNF. The allegations mark the first known instance...

Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) went on with Stewart Varney on Thursday morning to discuss recent developments on Capitol Hill.   Roskam told Stewart House Republicans are planning of filing criminal charges against Lois Lerner.     Rep. Roskam: The Obama Administration was very lenient with the crimes that Lois Lerner committed. And those are strong words that I’m using but the House Ways and Means Committee voted out a criminal referral to the Department of Justice which was completely dismissed by the Department of Justice… We think that Lois Lerner did two things wrong. Number one, she denied people...

Documents Confirm that Obama IRS Improperly Targeted Conservatives JW Exposes Dangerous Criminals Protected by Texas Sanctuary City Policy Climategate Obstruction Challenged in Court U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz Addresses Government Oversight Challenges at JW Documents Confirm that Obama IRS Improperly Targeted Conservatives We continue to undercover the details of the Obama IRS’ arbitrary and capricious behavior toward those presumed to be “enemies” of President Obama. This week we released 695 pages of new documents containing admissions by IRS officials that the agency used “inappropriate political labels” to screen the tax-exempt applications of conservative organizations. Other records reveal that the IRS...