Fire and Issa: GOP Builds Steam in IRS Case
The IRS isn’t playing in tonight’s congressional baseball game, which is probably a good thing since officials aren’t exactly hitting it out of the park in their Hill testimony. House hearings have already gone extra innings this week, as conservatives try to get to the bottom of the 24,000 new reasons not to trust the IRS: Lois Lerner’s AWOL emails. While IRS Commissioner John Koskinen insists the messages are as lost as the Malaysian airliner, tech experts disagree.In 2008, CBS reports, Anthony Verducci, a writer at Popular Mechanics, ‘took two laptop drives ... beat the heck out of them until we heard the signature clicking of mechanical hard-drive failure. Then we submerged one of the drives in custom-made storm-surge floodwaters (salt water, construction debris, oil) and let it soak for four days.’ He still got nearly 100 percent data recovery.” The bottom line? “It’s hard to kill a hard drive.” A fact not lost on U.S. voters. A vast majority of Americans -- 76% -- think the emails were deliberately destroyed (including 63% of Democrats!). Another 74% told Fox News they think Congress should investigate the IRS “until someone is held accountable” (with 66% of Democrats’ support).
Speaking of holding the IRS accountable, the Justice Department refuses to in the National Organization for Marriage case. Two years ago, an IRS official intentionally released NOM’s confidential tax information to its opposition, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). To intimidate NOM’s donors, HRC posted the personal information on its website.
This week, a judge in the lawsuit ruled that IRS illegally exposed the donor list and ordered the agency to pay NOM $50,000 in damages. The IRS agreed, admitting to the wrongdoing in a major victory for the movement. But once again, Attorney General Eric Holder is refusing do his job and launch a criminal investigation against the IRS employee responsible. “So the gay activist who conspired with an IRS employee to deliberately try and damage the reputation of a nonprofit group refuses to divulge the name of his co-conspirator and the donors to NOM are open to all kinds of personal and professional pressure to toe the pro-gay marriage line or suffer the consequences,” writes Rick Moran. “Just another day in Obama’s America.”
In Monday night’s primetime drama, House Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) couldn’t believe what they were hearing from IRS Commissioner (and big-time Democratic donor) John Koskinen. “You worked to cover up the fact that there were missing emails… and only came forward… after you were caught red-handed,” Issa accused in the four-hour IRS grilling. “At what point,” fumed Congressman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), “does [withholding the email news] become obstruction of justice?”
Yesterday, a U.S. Archivist testified that, in fact, the IRS “did not follow the law” when it refused to report the lost emails. Under the Federal Records Act, agencies are supposed to notify Archives when “they realize they have a problem,” especially when the files are official government documents.
The IRS is a joke. No, really, Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) points out, they are. “Taxpayers should be allowed to offer the same flimsy, obviously made-up excuses the Obama administration uses.” (Like Lerner’s “stuff happens?”) In a hilarious “Dog Ate My Tax Receipts” bill, Stockman mocked the IRS by offering legislation that would give taxpayers the right to offer their own ridiculous excuses when the agency comes calling:
1. The dog ate my tax receipts
2. Convenient, unexplained, miscellaneous computer malfunction
3. Traded documents for five terrorists
4. Burned for warmth while lost in the Yukon
5. Left on table in Hillary’s Book Room
6. Received water damage in the trunk of Ted Kennedy’s car
7. Forgot in gun case sold to Mexican drug lords
8. Forced to recycle by municipal Green Czar
9. Was short on toilet paper while camping
10. At this point, what difference does it make?
Ironically, the White House says Republicans are turning this into a partisan issue -- something it already was when the IRS singled out conservatives for harassment.
McDaniel in the Lion’s Den
How far will the GOP Establishment go to avoid their own Party’s platform? If the Senate primary in Mississippi is any indication, the Establishment will do anything -- including recruiting liberal Democrats -- to protect its moderates. Just three weeks ago, incumbent Republican Sen. Thad Cochran was hanging on to his seat by a runoff thread. Chris McDaniel, a strong, full-portfolio conservative, backed by FRC Action and tea party groups, energetically campaigned for fiscal, social, and defense responsibility.
Then, in a shocking turn, Cochran’s Senate friends went back to the drawing board, aggressively pitching Sen. Cochran as a bigger government, bigger spending candidate who liberals should turn out and support. “In Mississippi,” John Fund explains, “despite an unenforceable law saying that only voters intending to vote Republican can participate in GOP primaries, there was nothing preventing that kind of primary manipulation.” Last night, their unorthodox play paid off, as Cochran slipped through by 6,000 votes.
It was a blow to conservatives, who almost upended another stagnant Establishment Republican. Our sister organizations, FRC Action and the FRC Action PAC, were proud to stand with Chris McDaniel, who, were it not for the GOP’s desperate influx of liberal voters, would have upended the three-decade reign of Thad Cochran. “There is something a bit strange, there is something a bit unusual about a Republican primary that’s decided by liberal Democrats,” a disappointed McDaniel said. Not only strange, we would argue, but revealing. The vulnerable GOP is running so far away from the party platform and priorities that it needs Democratic voters to push its candidate over the top in primary challenges from conservatives.
Still, as disappointing as the results are (both for McDaniel and their implications for the state of the Republican Party), it’s encouraging to see the enthusiasm for true pro-family, pro-freedom, pro-growth candidates. With your help, FRC Action and the FRC Action PAC will continue to build on that momentum and push for real change in November!
Meriam's Trials and Tripulations
For Meriam Ibrahim, the journey to freedom continues. While we were celebrating her release from prison on Monday, those cheers gave way to fears that she may be trapped in a country where there have still been threats against her life. Yesterday, she and her family were detained at the airport in Khartoum as they attempted to exit the country. Officials said she had fraudulent documents, which is a crime.
This afternoon, I met with the Sudanese Ambassador to the United States, Maowia Khalid, to discuss the concerns that millions of Christians here in the United States have regarding the situation of Meriam and her family. Ambassador Khalid appeared to clearly grasp the gravity of the matter in the eyes of Americans and by all accounts has been working for a positive resolution. It also appears that he understands his government is responsible for the safety of Meriam and her family as long as they are unable to leave the country.
The Ambassador assured me that Meriam and her family are safe, and the Sudanese government is working to process the necessary paperwork allowing them to leave. We also discussed the other “Meriams” who are or may be denied their religious freedom and the government’s need to repeal its apostasy laws and bring its legal regime into alignment with the human right of religious liberty. We still need you to speak up for Meriam until her journey carries her to a safe place.
From all accounts, the U.S. government’s efforts to secure Meriam’s release from prison and exit from the country have been almost nonexistent. The Sudanese officials have acted in response to the public outcry. So don’t go silent now. I need your help! If you haven’t signed FRC’s State Department petition, calling on Secretary John Kerry to intervene and demand the family’s release, click here. Also, if you missed my interview with Fox News’s “Kelly File,” check it out here.
Tony Perkins' Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC Action senior writers.
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