Another D.C. Connection in the IRS Targeting Scheme
New information from one of the top IRS supervisors in Washington, D.C. confirms what we have been arguing from the beginning - the IRS scheme to unlawfully and unconstitutionally target conservative groups was well planned and coordinated - and did not originate with a couple of rogue agents out of the Cincinnati office as the IRS contends.
We have already confirmed that IRS Director of the Exempt Organizations, Lois Lerner, was involved in the scheme, sending some 15 letters to our clients.
Now, Holly Paz, a top supervisor who worked for Lerner, has told congressional investigators that she was personally involved in reviewing 20 to 30 applications for tax-exempt status by Tea Party groups. Of course, we knew about her involvement, too, because her name was on letters sent to some of our clients.
And now we learn about a bizarre new assertion: Paz claims the phrase "Tea Party" - one of the terms used in the targeting scheme - was merely shorthand for all applications from groups that were politically active - conservative and liberal. That assertion doesn't seem to square with the facts since no liberal groups were singled out and targeted by the IRS.
Paz also contends that these Tea Party applications sat untouched for more than a year because of a miscommunication problem. She told investigators that field agents waited for guidance from Washington on how to handle them while Washington officials thought the agents in Cincinnati were processing the cases.
So, are we to believe that one office didn't know what the other was doing for a year? No phone calls? No email follow-ups? As I told Martha MacCallum on FOX News this morning, an interesting fact is this period of inactivity at the IRS - when the applications were sitting on a desk gathering dust - coincided with the 2012 election cycle.
We're in the process of amending our initial federal lawsuit filed against the IRS. We began with some 25 plaintiffs and will add more in the coming week. We will also aggressively pursue answers about the origins of this targeting scheme.
And there are many questions we will be focusing on in our depositions of Holly Paz and others. Who ordered this scheme? How high did it go? How could the White House Counsel and the White House Chief of Staff know about this scheme, and the President did not?
What we do know is that President Obama took an oath when he was sworn into office - an oath that requires the President to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Stand with us. Send President Obama a strong message urging him to fulfill his oath. Add your name to our Petition to Protect the Constitution.