Federal Judge Threatens To Hold IRS Commissioner, Justice Attorneys In Contempt Over Lerner Emails
This
was quite the week for those of us demanding that the Obama IRS be held
accountable to the rule of law for its abuse of innocent taxpayers. We
received more documents that expose more Obama administration
misconduct and lies in the IRS scandal. And a federal court judge
threatened to hold the IRS Commissioner personally in contempt over the
agency's violation of his court orders.
U.S
District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan threatened to hold the Commissioner
of the Internal Revenue Service and Justice Department attorneys in
contempt of court after the IRS failed to produce status reports and
newly recovered emails of Lois Lerner, former director of the Exempt
Organizations Unit of the IRS, as he had ordered on July 1, 2015.
During
the a status hearing Wednesday, Sullivan warned that the failure to
follow his order was serious and that the IRS and Justice Department's
excuses for not following his July 1 order were "indefensible"
ridiculous, and absurd." He asked the IRS' Justice Department lawyer
Geoffrey Klimas, "Why didn't the IRS comply" with his court order and
"why shouldn't the court hold the commissioner of the IRS in contempt?"
Judge Sullivan referenced his contempt findings against Justice
Department prosecutors in the prosecution of late Senator Ted Stevens
(R-AK) and reminded the Justice Department attorney the court has the
ability to detain him for contempt. Warning he would tolerate no
further disregard of his orders, Judge Sullivan said:
If
there is further noncompliance, I will haul into court the Commissioner
of the Internal Revenue Service to show cause why that person should
not be personally held in contempt of court. I can't make that any
clearer."
To read the transcript of the hearing, which I urge you to do, click here.
After the hearing, Judge Sullivan issued the following "minute order":
At
the July 29, 2015 status hearing, the Government agreed that the
Court's July 1, 2015 oral order from the bench was clear and
enforceable. Nonetheless, the Government reasoned it inappropriate to
file a motion for reconsideration until a written order was issued. As
expressed at the hearing, the Government's reasoning is nonsensical.
Officers of the Court who fail to comply with Court orders will be held
in contempt. Also, in the event of non-compliance with future Court
orders, the Commissioner of the IRS and others shall be directed to show
cause as to why they should not be held in contempt of Court. The
Court's July 1, 2015 ruling from the bench stands: (1) the Government
shall produce relevant documents every Monday;
(2) the Government's document production shall be accompanied by a
status report that indicates (a) whether TIGTA has turned over any new
documents to the IRS, (b) if so, the number of documents, and (c) a
timeframe for the IRSs production of those documents. Signed by Judge
Emmet G. Sullivan on July 29, 2015.
Back
during the July 1, 2015, status conference, Sullivan had ordered the
IRS to begin producing, every week, the nearly 1,800 newly recovered
Lerner emails responsive to Judicial Watch's Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) request. Despite the court order, the IRS did not produce any
Lerner emails until July 15. The IRS also failed to provide Judicial
Watch weekly status reports of the Lerner email production issues, as
also ordered by Sullivan. Last week, Judge Sullivan ordered sua sponte the parties to appear for a hearing, after Judicial Watch raised concerns about the IRS' failure to comply with his orders.
The developments come in Judicial Watch's FOIA lawsuit seeking documents about the Obama IRS' targeting and harassment of Tea Party and conservative opponents of President Obama (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Internal Revenue Service (No. 1:13-cv-01559)).
Judicial Watch's litigation forced the IRS first to claim that Lerner's
emails were supposedly missing and, then, that the emails were on IRS'
back-up systems.
The day before the extraordinary court hearing, Judicial Watch released
the first batch (906 pages) of Lerner's believed-to-be newly recovered
emails. The new documents show that Lerner and other top officials in
the IRS, including soon-to-be Acting IRS Commissioner Steve Miller,
closely monitored and approved the scandalous handling of tax-exempt
applications by Tea Party organizations and individuals. The documents
also show that at least one group received an inquiry from the IRS in
order to buy time and keep the organization from contacting Congress.
We
believe these emails were recovered by the agency's own internal
watchdog - the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration
(TIGTA).
Lerner sent a November 3, 2011, email documenting her concerns about the failure to process applications in a timely manner:
I'm
getting a little nervous about the amount we have on our plate and how
we are handling. I know everyone is working hard and juggling, but I am
wondering whether the juggling decisions are being made holistically
enough. We have only so many resources and things will probably get
worse going forward. I worry that decisions about how to use the
resources are being made without all the information...Something that
may not seem important in Cincinnati, may be crucial in DC. Similarly,
DC may be prioritizing its work based on what is sitting in DC when
something sitting in Cincinnati should be the focus of DC work.
IRS Program Manager Cindy Thomas of the Cincinnati Exempt Organization office replied to Lerner a few hours later with an email
detailing the pressure caused by the IRS' Washington headquarters
failure to move on the "advocacy cases." Thomas warned of litigation
and admitted that she authorized a letter for more information that was
sent to one of the complaining groups to keep it from contacting
Congress:
The
backlog of work involves advocacy organizations. As of about a month
ago, there were 161 of these cases sitting idle and we probably have
more by now. The control dates for these cases go back to the end of
2009 and all through 2010. We've been waiting for EO in D.C. to get us a
guidance/reference document with lessons learned from the c4 and c3
cases they worked and coordinated with Judy Kindell and Counsel. We're
getting calls from POAs wanting to know who has put the halt on working
these cases and threatening to contact their Congressional offices.
Just today, I instructed one of my managers to get an additional
information letter out to one of these organizations - if nothing else
to buy time so he didn't contact his Congressional Office. Soon, we're
going to start getting TAO's [Taxpayer Assistance Orders]
from TAS [Taxpayer Advocate Service] or declaratory judgment cases
filed -- then, I guess everyone will decide its time to start moving the
cases when we have mounds of additional paperwork to process along with
the cases (adding even more work for us to do).
Another
IRS lawyer responded to Lerner's email with an admission that IRS'
Washington headquarters' legal staff had hundreds of cases backlogged.
Michael Seto, who headed the Exempt Organization Technical Unit,
acknowledged to Lerner on November 9, 2011, that there were 446 application cases open in the beginning of fiscal year 2012, with many open for more than two years.
The emails also show that Lerner and other top officials of the IRS were aware of complaints
about treatment by Tea Party groups. In response to a February 2012
complaint and request for briefing from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) with the
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about, according to the
IRS, a Tea Party organization that applied for exemption about 18 months
previously and only "just recently" heard anything about the status of
its application: "When it did finally hear from us, [the IRS] apparently asked some fairly detailed questions and gave the organization a short deadline to respond."
Miller, who was then-IRS Deputy Commissioner for Service and Enforcement, emailed:
"let me know if it's a taxpayer I should know about." He also
complained about the number of emails about the issue, writing: "Will the emails never stop?"
Miller became Acting Commissioner for the IRS later in the year and was
eventually forced out after the Obama IRS scandal became public in May
2013.
Lerner handled the subsequent briefing of Rep. Jordan, and a statement by the IRS in response did not mention backlogs, Tea Party targeting, or Lerner's own concerns about the nature of the questions the IRS was sending to Tea Party applicants.
Another email shows
that Miller delayed "guidelines" for handling the backlogged
applications the very week after Lerner's briefing of Rep. Jordan. This
same email chain, dated February 28,
shows that, in a response to a complaint from Sen. Mitch McConnell's
(R-KY) office about Tea Party application delays, Lerner admits: "this
is a very sensitive area."
Just to review, it was back in May 2013, that the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) released an audit
report confirming that the IRS used "inappropriate" criteria to
identify Tea Party groups and other conservative organizations that had
expressed opposition to the Obama administration's policy agenda during
his re-election bid. In May 2014, Lerner was held in contempt of Congress
after refusing to testify at a congressional hearing about the agency's
actions. TIGTA has proven to be a real goldmine for the truth that the
IRS has worked to conceal. Earlier this month, TIGTA released another report
confirming that the IRS failed to timely search its back-up tapes
resulting in 24,000 Lerner emails being destroyed. The TIGTA report
also confirms that IRS Commissioner John Koskinen delayed informing
Congress (and the courts) for months about Lerner's email issue.
Keep in mind that all of these developments come in response to your JW's FOIA lawsuit seeking documents about the Obama IRS' targeting and harassment of Tea Party and conservative opponents of President Obama.
Let's
be clear about what's happening here. These recovered Lerner emails
had to be dragged out of the Obama IRS, which is still resisting a
federal court order requiring disclosure of Lerner's "lost" emails.
This material shows that the IRS' cover-up began years ago. We now have
smoking-gun proof that top officials in the Obama IRS unlawfully
harassed taxpayers just to keep them from complaining to Congress about
IRS' targeting and abuse. No wonder the Obama IRS has had such little
interest in preserving or finding Lerner's emails.
I
am grateful that Judge Sullivan made it clear that he would personally
hold accountable IRS Commissioner Koskinen and Justice Department
attorneys for any further contempt of his court orders in our FOIA
lawsuit. The missing and then-the-not-missing Lerner email saga is a
stark example of the Obama administration's contempt for a federal court
and the rule of law. That Obama administration officials would risk
jail rather than disclose these Lerner documents shows that the IRS
scandal has just gotten a whole lot worse.
Judicial Watch's legal team,
led by Director of Litigation Paul Orfanedes, deserves special kudos
here. Their legal brilliance and persistence in court, against an army
of taxpayer-funded lawyers at the Justice Department and IRS, paid off
once again this week.
Judicial Watch Exposes Key Document in Government-Funded, Race-Based Hawaii Separatist Vote
The
liberal uproar over the Confederate flag is ironic in light of an
effort, supported by federal tax dollars courtesy of the Obama
administration, to allow leftists in Hawaii to conduct a racially
discriminatory campaign that could lead to Hawaii actually trying to
leave the United States of America.
The
liberal media won't tell you about this pernicious effort, but Judicial
Watch is on the case and I can report to you success in our court
efforts.
We have just obtained the race-based enrollment list
of native Hawaiians created in accordance with the "Kana'iolowalu," the
controversial racial registration campaign run by the Native Hawaiian
Roll Commission (NHRC). Your JW obtained the list under a June 3, 2015, court order issued in an open records lawsuit
that our legal team filed against the Roll Commission, seeking the
release of documents related to the campaign. If you are a Hawaiian, I
encourage you are to search the list to see if your name was added.
On
July 20, 2012, using taxpayer funds from the State's Office of Hawaiian
Affairs, the Native Hawaiian Roll Commission launched the Kana'iolowalu
campaign, opening a registration process for native Hawaiians who
desired to vote for a new race-based sovereign government.
Upon the registration's closing in January 2014, only about 40,000 native Hawaiians had registered.
Trying
to inflate the list numbers, the Roll Commission then reopened
registration in March and again in August of 2014. During this period,
the State Office of Hawaiian Affairs transferred government lists of
"Native Hawaiians" who had previously registered their "ancestry" with
the state agency to the Kana'iolowalu campaign. At least 87,000 names
were transferred to the NHRC's enrollment list in this way. This
resulted in registrants placed on the enrollment list without their
knowledge or consent. Individuals who object to being added to the
race-based voter roll without their permission are compelled to file a
form to have their names removed.
This
enrollment list was created under Act 195, the 2011 Hawaii law that
authorizes the Native Hawaiian Roll Commission to create a list of
"Native Hawaiians" who would be eligible to vote on issues concerning
the sovereignty of the "Native Hawaiian people." Act 195 defines a
"Native Hawaiian" as any person whom the government determines to be a
direct descendant of the State's aboriginal peoples. A person may
register for the Kana'iolowalu if, besides meeting the law's racial
requirements, that individual has "maintained a significant cultural,
social, or civic connection to the Native Hawaiian community" and
"wishes to participate" in organizing an anticipated "Native Hawaiian
governing entity."
The
Roll Commission defines Kana'iolowalu as "the din that is being created
by the mass of people who are coming together and moving forward to
strive and achieve and recognize the unrelinquished sovereignty of the
Native Hawaiian people ..."
Unfortunately,
too many Hawaiians will learn that they have been registered, without
their permission, on a race-based enrollment list to help radicals in
Hawaii tear the state apart and break away from the United States of
America. Trying to divide American citizens by race is bad enough, but
signing citizens up for this project without even telling them is a
particularly nasty abuse of government power. A group of leftist
radicals is trying to bring apartheid to Hawaii. Hawaiians should check
this "enrollment" list to help make sure they have no part in this plot.
The Obama administration is giving this movement aid and support. It took executive action toward "the reestablishment
of a government-to-government relationship with the Native Hawaiian
community." So as liberal pressure has led to the removal of the
Confederate flag in South Carolina, liberals push a new race-based
secession movement in Hawaii with your tax dollars. There will be more
JW action on issue, so stay tuned.
Judicial Watch Partners with TheBlaze On Documentary On Border Narco-Terror Threat: "The Sun City Cell"
No
other media outlet, no congressional committee, and no other
non-governmental organization can match Judicial Watch's successes in
ferreting out what the government doesn't want you know. On the issue
of terrorism and the border, JW's journalism has had an international
impact. Our goal is to educate the public about the Islamist terrorist
threat from our southern border and the government corruption and
incompetence that places all Americans at risk. We've exposed ISIS terrorist threats on the border, terrorist arrests on the border, and ISIS camps in Mexico. Just this week, we highlighted how the terrorists are being brought here by the drug cartels:
Mexican
drug cartels are smuggling foreigners from countries with terrorist
links into a small Texas rural town near El Paso and they're using
remote farm roads-rather than interstates-to elude the Border Patrol and
other law enforcement barriers, according to Judicial Watch sources on
both sides of the Mexico-U.S. border.
JW's
law enforcement sources say that the cartels are exploiting Border
Patrol and Texas Department of Public Safety policies to tie the hands
of law enforcement by limiting traffic stops and interdiction
operations.
Our nation's unsecured border with Mexico is an existential threat
to our nation. The American people see the crimes committed by illegal
alien criminals every day. The terrorist threat resulting from the
crazed and lawless amnesty and non-security policies are potentially
much more dangerous to the public safety.
So
Judicial Watch is especially pleased to announce a new documentary,
produced in partnership with TheBlaze TV, that chronicles how an
al-Qaeda cell in New Mexico plotted a major terrorist attack against
Chicago that would have been the most significant domestic terrorist
attack since 9/11. Judicial Watch was the first to report
this dramatic story, which included a plan to bomb Oprah Winfrey's
studios and the iconic Willis Tower (the renamed Sears Tower) in
Chicago.
"The
Sun City Cell" is the story of the narco-terror plot that government
officials deny and that media outlets have failed to report. The
documentary investigates corruption and the dark world of confidential
informants in an attempt to expose an escalating threat to the nation.
It presents evidence showing how a major U.S. city became an operational
base and staging area for a terror cell, and how corruption among
high-ranking government officials and law enforcement officers left the
United States vulnerable to a major terror strike.
The
documentary is the product of a four-year investigation by Judicial
Watch. Christopher Farrell, our long-time director of investigations
and research (and a former military intelligence officer) has led our
investigative and reporting efforts on the narco-terror border threat.
The documentary shows how Judicial Watch's sources inside law
enforcement and the government risked their lives to tell the truth to
the American people.
Expanding
on our groundbreaking investigative reports, this new documentary
provides never-before-seen evidence and exclusive interviews that show
how Mexican drug cartels are transporting terrorists, drugs and weapons
into the United States completely undetected.
As a Judicial Watch Weekly Update subscriber, you can watch "The Sun City Cell" free for a limited time. Until Tuesday, August 4, you can click here, https://vimeo.com/134411651. Be sure to enter the password: Sun City 2015
After Tuesday, the documentary will be available anytime, on demand via TheBlaze TV here: http://www.theblaze.com/judicial-watch-sun-city-cell.
This
documentary is an educational milestone for your Judicial Watch, so I
encourage you to take advantage of this free offer to view this
eye-opening film.
Until next week...
 Tom Fitton President
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