[VIDEO] Jason Chaffetz: Expect News on Probe of IRS 'As Early As Next Week'

Rep. Jason Chaffetz asserts there is evidence that the IRS intentionally targeted conservative groups under Lois Lerner, the former director of the Exempt Organizations Unit at the agency, and said "there will be news … as early as next week."

Chaffetz, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is leading the congressional investigation into the IRS scandal. On Thursday, he told a group at the Ripon Society in Washington, D.C., the IRS destroyed documents requested by the committee in March 2014.

"Probably the biggest thing our committee is looking at is the IRS," the Utah Republican said. "You have political targeting that is factual at this point. There are no ifs, ands or buts. You had groups within the IRS who were politically targeting conservatives and impeding their First Amendment rights. You're going to continue to hear more about this. Because when the targeting became evident, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee put in place a subpoena for the documents — a small window of Lois Lerner's emails.

"Internally, the IRS put a preservation order in place — don't destroy or get rid of any of these documents. These documents and emails were in the possession of the IRS. And on March 4, 2014, they destroyed them."

Lerner resigned from her post at the IRS in September 2013 after she was placed on administrative leave in May of that year following the revelations.

Chaffetz said during his address at the Ripon Society the IRS deliberately defied orders by destroying the documents.

"Imagine if the IRS had given you a summons for you to produce documents," Chaffetz added. "You had them in your possession, and then you destroyed them. What would happen to you? Do you think they would say, 'Oh, darn it!' No, which is why Congress has to stand up for itself. You cannot — with a duly issued subpoena and eternal preservation order in place — go out and destroy documents and say there is no consequence to that; nobody's going to be held accountable, and nobody is at fault.

"And yet that's essentially what we've heard from the president, who has said repeatedly there is not even a 'smidgeon' of corruption. He was on 'The Daily Show' with Jon Stewart the other night and said, 'You know what the real scandal is? The real scandal is that the IRS is underfunded. They need more agents, more people, and Congress passed a bad law.'

"You know this ridiculous law the president is talking about? It was passed in 1913. He makes it look as if we had passed this law. That little detail he said on 'The Daily Show,' you're going to see that surface. We will continue to pursue this, and I promise you — there will be news on the IRS side as early as next week. So stay tuned."

It was recently reported that investigators found more than 1,400 emails tied to Lerner that were thought to have been deleted.

Via: Newsmax

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Judicial Watch: IRS Finds New Lois Lerner Emails

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton made the following statement in response to the IRS’ court filing Friday about 6,400 newly discovered emails from Lois Lerner’s account:

“Late Friday afternoon, the Obama IRS finally complied with Judge Emmet Sullivan’s June 4 order requiring the IRS to provide answers by June 12 on the status of the Lois Lerner emails the IRS had previously declared lost. Judicial Watch raised questions about the IRS’ handling of the missing emails issue in a court filing on June 2, 2015, demanding answers about Lois Lerner’s emails, which had been recovered from backup tapes.
“Our review of the seven-page filing shows that the IRS remains intent on stonewalling Judicial Watch and Judge Sullivan. Indeed, contrary to false representations to the court and Congress that the emails were lost and unrecoverable, the IRS finally admits that it has as many as 6,400 new Lois Lerner emails but won’t promise to turn them over to Judicial Watch. Even though the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration already identified and removed emails that are duplicates, the IRS is in ‘the process of conducting further manual deduplication of the 6,400’ emails, rather than reviewing them in response to Judicial Watch’s Freedom of Information Act requests that are more than two years old now. Our legal team will continue pursuing all necessary and available legal options to hold the IRS accountable for its flagrant abuse of power.”

The “lost” Lois Lerner emails are at issue in Judicial Watch’s October 2013 lawsuit seeking documents about the Obama IRS Tea Party targeting scandal. Judicial Watch’s litigation forced the IRS first to admit that Lerner’s emails were supposedly missing and, then, that the emails were on IRS back-up systems.  Lois Lerner is the former head of the Exempt Organizations branch of the IRS, and was one of the top officials responsible for the IRS targeting of President Obama’s political opponents.

In November 2014, the IRS told the court it had failed to search any of the IRS standard computer systems for the “missing” emails of Lois Lerner and other IRS officials.

On February 26, 2015, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) officials testified to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that it had received 744 backup tapes containing emails sent and received by Lerner.  This testimony showed that the IRS had falsely represented to both Congress, Judge Sullivan, and Judicial Watch that Lerner’s emails were irretrievably lost.

Via: Judicial Watch

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Issa, Cummings clash at hearing after ex-IRS official Lerner takes 5th

A House hearing on the IRS targeting scandal rapidly broke down into a heated and deeply personal argument between a top Democrat and Republican, moments after former IRS official Lois Lerner once again invoked her Fifth Amendment right not to testify. 

Lerner, who last year refused to answer questions about her role in singling out Tea Party and other conservative groups for extra scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status, was called back before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday. Though Republicans argue she waived her Fifth Amendment right by giving a statement during the last hearing, Lerner continued to invoke that right on Wednesday. 

"On the advice of my counsel, I respectfully exercise my Fifth Amendment right and decline to answer that question," she said in response to several questions. 

But ranking Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., got into a heated argument with Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., after Issa tried to adjourn the hearing. 

Issa at first stood up and prepared to leave as Cummings said he wanted to ask a "procedural question." In seconds, tensions flared. 

"Mr. Chairman, you cannot run a committee like this," Cummings appealed. 

Cummings' microphone was then turned off, and then flipped back on again. Issa sat down momentarily, but then abruptly told Lerner she was "released" and said: "We're adjourned, close it down."

Via: Fox News

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Amtrak loses $72M, while free booze flows

If Amtrak wants to stop losing $72 million per year on food service, a federal auditor has a suggestion: Stop pouring free booze for riders and serving gratis meals to the help.

The taxpayer-subsidized rail line found its food service operation deep in red ink, even as it served the free wine, champagne and cheese to long distance riders and fed employees for free, according to Inspector General Ted Alves.

"Amtrak’s operating losses on food and beverage services have been a long-standing issue, and they contribute directly to the need for federal subsidies to support operations," Alves told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, according to Bloomberg.

Alves said customers traveling on Amtrak's Auto Train from Virginia to Florida enjoy complimentary wine and cheese and that sleeper-car passengers on three long-distance routes get free wine and champagne -- freebies Alves said cost the company a whopping $428,000 in 2012.

The handouts go beyond free booze. Thursday's testimony revealed that passengers riding on the 43-hour Chicago-Los Angeles Southwest Chief can dine on a $23.25 Mahi-Mahi dinner with a vegetable medley and three-grain rice pilaf. And last year's figures are piled atop years of losses, noted one lawmaker.

Via: Fox News

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ObamaCare website could only handle 1,100 users day before launch, docs show

The problem-plagued ObamaCare website was only equipped to handle 1,100 users a day before it was launched, documents released by the House Oversight and Reform Committee reveal.

The Obama administration has repeatedly insisted that the website’s repeated crashes were due to unexpectedly high traffic. U.S. Chief Technology Officer Todd Park said on Oct. 6 that the website was expected to draw around 60,000 simultaneous users but instead drew many more, around 250,000.

However, a Healthcare.gov testing bulletin from Sept. 30, the day before the site’s launch, states that the website began to run into trouble with far fewer users.

“Currently we are able to reach 1,100 users before response time gets too high,” the bulletin states.

The bulletin says that the goal moving forward was to “conduct more thorough testing with (the Federally Facilitated Marketplace) to reach targets of up to 10,000 concurrent users in the next few days.”

The document’s release follows testimony by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Wednesday, in which she acknowledged that the early enrollment figures for ObamaCare scheduled to be released next week will be “very low” due to the website’s problems.

Via: Fox News

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Issa Subpoenas Web Firm with Ties to Obama Bundler

The Obamacare website contractor that was issued a subpoena by Rep. Darrell Issa is owned by a company with a major donor and bundler for Barack Obama's presidential campaign among its executives.

Issa, a California Republican and chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, subpoenaed Quality Software Services Inc. (QSSI) on Tuesday for documents regarding the development of the Obamacare website. 

Anthony Welters is the executive vice president of UnitedHealth Group, which purchased QSSI in 2012, and was a major campaign bundler for Obama during his 2008 campaign for president, according to the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org.

Editor's Note: 22 Hidden Taxes and Fees Set to Hit You With Obamacare. Read the Guide to Protect Yourself. 

During the 2008 election cycle, Welters and his wife Beatrice raised between $200,000 and $500,000 for Obama's campaign, and an additional $300,000 for the Obama inaugural committee. They donated $100,000 themselves to the committee.

The contributions paid off for Beatrice Welters, who served as the ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago until her resignation in 2012.

In addition to the Welters' activity for the Obama campaign, their sons Andrew and Bryant have given generously to Democratic campaigns and interests. 

OpenSecrets.org found they have donated $258,000 since 2007, including $30,800 donations to the Democratic National Committee in 2012.

QSSI, which spent more than $2.5 million on lobbying this year, won a large contract in January to build a federal data services hub to help run the complex federal health insurance exchange.

Via: Newsmax

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