Obama administration won’t release IRS targeting documents

There are numerous exclusions to what must be made available for public examination under the Freedom of Information Act. Wikipedia presents the list of exclusions here. If you prefer to view them in the context of the U.S. Code itself, Section 552 can be found online here. You’ll need to scroll about two-thirds of the way down the page to find the same list.

If you request such items under the Freedom of Information Act, you can expect a refusal. If you appeal that refusal, and the court determines that you’re requesting items which specifically aren’t required to be made public, you can expect the original refusal to be upheld.

IRS Cover-Up Expands to Justice Department

But, while comparing their policies, Obama conveniently left out one chilling similarity: Both presidents used the virtually unbridled power and authority of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to target their political opponents. In fact, in many respects Obama’s IRS abuses actually have been much worse than Nixon’s.

It was in May 2013 that the Treasury Inspector for Tax Administration (TIGTA) released an audit report confirming that the IRS used “inappropriate” criteria to identify, hamstring, and handcuff conservative organizations that stand in opposition to the administration’s policies. In short, it violated the First Amendment rights of countless Americans just as Obama sought reelection. If you want to know how an election is stolen in plain sight, this is how.

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President Obama’s Department of Justice (DOJ) is supposedly conducting an investigation into the IRS’ wrongdoing. And the operative word there is “supposedly.” The fact is, we have very good reason to believe that the DOJ may not get to the truth – or even try all that hard. Why not? Well, we are not alone in noting that DOJ Attorney Barbara Bosserman, whom Eric Holder appointed back in January 2014 to lead the investigation, is not exactly what anyone would call a nonpartisan, neutral civil servant. Far from it.

Federal Election Commission records show Bosserman contributed $6,750 to Obama’s campaigns and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2004 to 2012, including 12 separate contributions to Obama for America between 2008 and 2012. Small wonder then that House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darryl Issa (R-CA) described the Bosserman appointment as “a startling conflict of interest [that has] compromised the Administration’s investigation of the IRS.” That’s what Issa wrote in a letter to Attorney General Holder protesting the appointment of Obama loyalist Bosserman to head up the Obama IRS investigation.

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So far, the DOJ has claimed no less than four separate privileges in federal court to keep Bosserman’s hours secret. In November 2014, the DOJ filed a Motion for Summary Judgment that was laced with obfuscation. DOJ lawyers argue that there is no public interest served in releasing the information. While the DOJ confirms that there is an investigation of sorts, the Motion omits any acknowledgement that improper IRS targeting was directed against Tea Party groups and other conservative organizations opposed to Obama’s agenda. Judicial Watch’s lawyers are asking the court to reject the DOJ’s arguments to continue its stonewalling, to review the documents in question, and to rule summarily in our favor:

[Judicial Watch] does not seek information describing the type of work Ms. Bosserman conducted. Nor does it seek information about how she spent her time. Nor does it seek Ms. Bosserman’s notes about locations visited, persons consulted, staff briefings, and other case developments. Again, [Judicial Watch] solely seeks information about the number of hours Ms. Bosserman expended on the aforementioned criminal investigation. Nevertheless, Defendant claims everything but the kitchen sink in its effort to withhold the time records in their entirety.

Prior Judicial Watch lawsuits forced the release of IRS and Justice Department documents that implicate the Justice Department, its Public Integrity Section, and Obama supporters in Congress. These Judicial Watch disclosures also led to the discovery by Congress that the FBI had obtained, illegally, over a million pages of IRS files.

This ought to be a major issue on the nomination fight over Loretta Lynch, Obama’s proposed successor to the disgraced Eric Holder. Under Justice Department regulations: