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President Trump made it official on Thursday that embattled IRS Commissioner John Koskinen will be out of a job next month. Trump tapped David Kautter, the Treasury Department’s assistant secretary for tax policy, to serve as interim IRS commissioner, beginning Nov. 13. Koskinen’s term ends on Nov. 12. He was eligible for reappointment, but Koskinen is fiercely opposed by congressional Republicans. Members of the House Freedom Caucus attempted but failed to impeach Koskinen last year, largely over his handling of the scandal involving former IRS official Lois Lerner. Prior to Koskinen’s tenure, Lerner was accused targeting conservative groups who applied...

Rep. Darrell Issa's demand follows CNN report of contact between the IRS and FEC House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa demanded Wednesday that the Federal Election Commission turn over records of more than five years of communications with the Internal Revenue Service -- a move that significantly expands the California Republican's ongoing probe of alleged federal targeting of conservative groups. In a letter to FEC Chairman Ellen Weintraub -- a Democrat -- Issa cited CNN reporting on Monday that raises "the prospect of inappropriate coordination between the IRS and the FEC about tax-exempt entities." Among other things, Issa asked for...

The Trump Justice Department has once again cleared former IRS senior executive Lois G. Lerner of criminal liability stemming from the tea party targeting. In a letter to top Republicans, Assistant Attorney General Stephen E. Boyd said they re-reviewed the case and concluded there isn’t enough evidence to charge Ms. Lerner, who was at the center of the targeting. Mr. Boyd said the new review included lawyers who only recently joined the department and weren’t part of the Obama administration’s earlier decision. “After this process, the Department determined that reopening the investigation would not be appropriate based on the available...

One of President Trump’s major campaign promises was to Drain the Swamp. It appealed to voters, long worn and tired of the almost constant corruption and misuse of government powers and public money. And the president really did start off well. His Executive Orders on lobbying were seen as a sweeping move that should have been done a long time ago. But as more cases of corruption are being allowed to slip by, it begs two questions: Is the President serious about this? And is it even possible to do? The latest disappointment is the former IRS’s Exempt Organizations Unit...

The Justice Department says it will not prosecute former IRS executive Lois Lerner for targeting conservative groups during the 2010 and 2012 elections. In a letter to top Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee, Assistant Attorney General Kevin Brady said that after a careful review of the case, DOJ will not pursue charges against Lerner, who oversaw the IRS division that reviewed tax exempt organizations. “After this process, the Department determined that reopening the investigation would not be appropriate based on the available evidence,” Boyd wrote Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, the chairman of the House Ways and Means...

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...

The Justice Department says it will not prosecute former IRS executive Lois Lerner for targeting conservative groups during the 2010 and 2012 elections. In a letter to top Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee, Assistant Attorney General Kevin Brady said that after a careful review of the case, DOJ will not pursue charges against Lerner, who oversaw the IRS division that reviewed tax exempt organizations. “After this process, the Department determined that reopening the investigation would not be appropriate based on the available evidence,” Boyd wrote Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, the chairman of the House Ways and Means...

Abuse Of Power: The IRS scandal seemingly has lain dormant now for months, all but forgotten amid the spate of recent anti-Trump media spasms, the ongoing violent antics of the antifa leftists and, now, Hurricane Harvey's devastation. But even if much of Washington has forgotten about it, a Washington judge hasn't. As reported by the Washington Examiner, Judge Reggie B. Walton of the Washington, D.C., District Court last week revived legal attention to the scandal, telling the IRS it has to reveal the names of IRS employees who targeted conservative, libertarian and Tea Party groups. But Walton didn't stop there....

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...

One of the groups that sued the Internal Revenue Service over its targeting of conservative and Tea Party groups believes there has been a breakthrough that will help them draw a more complete picture of what went on behind the scenes at the agency, four years after it took its case to court. In a lawsuit involving True the Vote, Judge Reggie B. Walton of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the IRS last week to release the names of employees involved in targeting conservative and Tea Party groups. Walton also told the IRS to explain...

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.

The IRS manager most directly responsible for the targeting of tea party groups has demanded that her deposition for an upcoiming class action lawsuit related to the scandal be kept secret. Lois Lerner, former head of the tax exempt department at the IRS, claims that she has received death threats in the past and fears that publicity surrounding her deposition will lead to similar threats. Washington Times: Mr. Lerner and Holly Paz, another figure from the IRS tea party targeting, told the judge they’ve already faced “harassment and death threats” before, and said they fear another media firestorm if their...

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 due process and equal...

Former IRS senior executive Lois G. Lerner told a federal court this week that she faces the possibility of death threats if her role in the tax agency’s tea party targeting becomes public, and asked a judge to forever seal her upcoming deposition in a class action lawsuit brought by hundreds of groups that were targeted. Mr. Lerner and Holly Paz, another figure from the IRS’s tea party targeting, told the judge they’ve already faced “harassment and death threats” before, when the press was intently covering the tea party scandal. “Mss. Lerner and Paz have demonstrated that the public dissemination...

Quotes: “There is a HJC oversight hearing today where the head of our Civil Division will testify. Likely to get questions on State Department emails,” - Email from Assistant Attorney General Peter J. Kadzik with a warning to Podesta on Hillary’s emails on May 19, 2015, with the subject line, “Heads up. (from Wikileaks) "We found no evidence that any IRS official acted based on political, discriminatory, corrupt, or other inappropriate motives that would support a criminal prosecution - Assistant Attorney General Peter J. Kadzik concluding the IRS did nothing wrong in targeting Tea Party groups. FBI Director James Comey...

A new investigation shows the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) gave preferential treatment in 2014 to a satanic organization by quickly approving a non-profit request. Judicial Watch, a government watchdog organization, released a report on March 16, exposing how the IRS fast-tracked an application to approve a satanist-after-school club while holding up the approval of conservative organizations. The report notes the Satanic Temple (ST) of Seattle, also called the Reason Alliance, applied for tax-exempt status on October 21, 2014 and received it 10 days later on October 31 — the satanic feast of Samhain. The group, based in Somerville, Massachusetts, started...

Nearly two months into the Trump administration, the IRS commissioner House Republicans once threatened with impeachment remains on the job. John Koskinen's continued tenure may be surprising, considering how aggressively Republicans went after him under the Obama administration. But despite a sustained push by congressional Republicans to oust the IRS chief before his five-year term expires this November, President Trump so far has made no move to do so. A White House official, asked about the commissioner's future, also told Fox News on Wednesday they had no personnel announcements “at this time.” House Republicans aren't giving up their quest to...

Vote Notes on Legislation On the Impeachment of John Koskinen as IRS Commissioner: On the motion to lay on the table: NO. On the motion to refer to committee: YES. On December 6, Congressman Jim Jordan moved to impeach John Koskinen as IRS commissioner for actions related to the IRS harassment of taxpayer groups based on their political beliefs. Although Koskinen did not order the harassment, there is considerable evidence that he willfully obstructed a lawful Congressional investigation of the matter and that he lied to Congress. If proven, either of these actions constitutes an impeachable offense. Nancy Pelosi moved...

At a campaign event in Springfield, Illinois Wednesday afternoon presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton warned Donald Trump would use the military and IRS "to go after his critics and opponents."

Recently obtained documents raise new questions about Lois Lerner’s role in sending confidential tax returns to the Justice Department. It is likely the largest unauthorized disclosure of tax-return information in history: the transfer of some 1.25 million pages of confidential tax returns from the IRS to the Department of Justice in October of 2010. And it was almost certainly illegal. The documents, which consisted chiefly of non-profit tax returns, were transferred to the DOJ’s criminal division from the IRS at the request of Lois Lerner, who wanted to get the information to the DOJ in advance of a meeting where...