In a recent Politico interview (publish date 6/27/14) with the Lois Lerner’s attorney William Taylor III an interesting aspect is buried midway through page #2.
During part of the interview Politico author Rachel Bade inquires about the 1.1 million pages of documents Lerner sent to the Department of Justice that became an issue when discovered by the House Oversight Committee on June 9th 2014. BACKSTORY HERE.
The documents were sent from IRS to DOJ on a series of 21 discs (CD ROMS) and, according to the admission from the DOJ, “contained legally protected taxpayer information that should not have ever been sent to the FBI“.
Some of the 501(c)(4) documentation included confidential tax records “Schedule B” of IRS filings. These Schedule B’s outline parties who contribute to, affiliate with, or people who support the 501 organization. Those tax filing schedules are illegal to distribute.
Why the DOJ waited to inform congress, and why they only did so after Daryl Issa found out about their existence, was a matter congressional consternation but no-one made a big deal about it.
Indeed all prior details and media reports of the interaction have been framed around the substance of legality, and illegality, for the IRS to actually send the confidential taxpayer data. This is indeed a concerning aspect – but we think we’ve uncovered something considerably more alarming about both the timing, and the substance.
Inside the Politico article is an explosively revealing defensively framed answer from attorney Taylor. He is specifically and directly stating it was NOT Lerner who initiated the inquiry:
…” [...] Taylor said Lerner didn’t know [about the unlawful confidential aspect] and sent them because Justice requested the documents”…
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Politico [Page 2] Taylor also responded to Oversight GOP reports that Lerner and Justice officials met in the fall of 2010 when Justice was considering the possibility of prosecuting 501(c)(4)s that may have been breaking rules by overly engaging in political activities — details Republicans found in emails handed over by the Justice Department.
Again, he said she was just doing her job.
“We should hope the two are talking to each other,” he said, because Justice and the IRS both bring tax charges and should be on the same page, he said.
Emails summarizing the meeting also show that Lerner apparently expressed skepticism that the (c)(4) issues were a criminal, rather than a civil, matter.
Oversight GOP has also hit Lerner for giving 1.1 million pages of tax return data about 501(c)(4) organizations to the FBI just before the 2010 midterms — 33 tax returns that included unlawfully disclosed private taxpayer information.
Taylor said Lerner didn’t know and sent them because Justice requested the documents: “She [understood] the donor information on Schedule B had been removed. In some cases, we later learned, it may not have been.”
The IRS has acknowledged that the 33 returns were not scrubbed of taxpayer information as required by law. (cont.)
In all prior reporting -on the initial revelation of Lerner’s submission of the documents to the DOJ- the assumption included within the articles was that Lerner was the initiator of the inquiry.
Apparently she wasn’t.
This latest interview with her attorney would dispute that assumption, and indicate the DOJ was the group making the inquiry – not the IRS. The IRS was responding to the request from the DOJ.
{Pause – Repeat} The IRS (Lerner) was responding to the request for information from the DOJ !
Naturally this means there was a preceding email from DOJ to the IRS.
The IRS (Lerner) emails around this incident were found by the House Oversight Committee and are included in both this article , and the pdf below.
However, if what Lerner’s attorney is saying to Politico is truthful, there’s more.
Where is the originating email from the DOJ? ….And more importantly WHO SENT IT AND WHY ?
FIRSTLY – This becomes quite possibly the smoking gun trail from DOJ (Eric Holder – underlings) to the White House.
SECONDLY – At the very least this makes the DOJ investigation into the IRS illegality fraught with conflict of interest. A conflict because the “impetus” of the inquiry itself, from the DOJ to the IRS becomes the more unlawful part.
How can the DOJ conduct an investigation into unlawful aspects of the IRS targeting of specific 501(c)(4) groups, when the DOJ is the initiating body for the illegality they are seeking to investigate ?
ANYONE ?
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