IRS Washington Office Targets Conservatives

So the Obama administration's IRS scandal doesn't just involve some "low-level workers" in Cincinnati.

What a shocker!

From the Washington Post:

Internal Revenue Service officials in Washington and at least two other offices were involved with investigating conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, making clear that the effort reached well beyond the branch in Cincinnati that was initially blamed, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.

IRS officials at the agency’s Washington headquarters sent queries to conservative groups asking about their donors and other aspects of their operations, while officials in the El Monte and Laguna Niguel offices in California sent similar questionnaires to tea-party-affiliated groups, the documents show.

IRS employees in Cincinnati told conservatives seeking the status of “social welfare” groups that a task force in Washington was overseeing their applications, according to interviews with the activists.

Lois G. Lerner, who oversees tax-exempt groups for the IRS, told reporters Friday that the “absolutely inappropriate” actions were undertaken by “front-line people” working in Cincinnati to target groups with “tea party,” “patriot” or “9/12” in their names.

In one instance, however, Ron Bell, an IRS employee, informed a lawyer representing a conservative group focused on voter fraud that the application was under review in Washington. On several other occasions, IRS officials in Washington and California sent conservative groups detailed questionnaires about their voter outreach and other activities, according to the documents.

“For the IRS to say it was some low-level group in Cincinnati is simply false,” said Cleta Mitchell, a partner in the law firm Foley & Lardner who sought to communicate with IRS headquarters about the delay in granting tax-exempt status to True the Vote.

Another cover-up?

More lies from the Obama administration?

...In a news conference Monday, President Obama said he learned of the investigating in media reports on Friday and has “no patience with it.”

“If in fact IRS personnel engaged in the kind of practices that have been reported on, and were intentionally targeting conservative groups, then that’s outrageous,” Obama said. “And there’s no place for it. And they have to be held fully accountable.”

White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Monday that the White House counsel’s office learned of an upcoming IRS inspector general’s report on April 22 as part of a routine notification but had not received access to the report.

Obama is a horrible leader.

I'm sick of him playing ignorant and distancing himself from the abuses of his administration.

He feigns outrage and vows to get to the bottom of the matter, whether it's the Benghazi terrorist attack or the IRS targeting Tea Party and other conservative groups for harassment.

Obama acts as if his hands are clean. They aren't. Ignorance is no excuse.

Even when the facts are known, he lies as he did yesterday during his press conference with Prime Minister David Cameron.

OBAMA: Well, let me take the IRS situation first. I first learned about it from the same news reports that I think most people learned about this. I think it was on Friday. And this is pretty straightforward.

Obama is the president! He is a liar.

He should not be learning about his government abusing its power and harassing Americans from the same news reports we get.

Is he really so detached that he's clueless about something as egregious as using the IRS against political enemies?

I don't buy it.

Even Jay Carney isn't on the page as Obama.

[D]uring a press gaggle about Air Force One on Monday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney insisted the White House was unaware of the investigation or its political implications until last month.

Last month isn't last Friday.

Back to Obama's remrks:

If, in fact, IRS personnel engaged in the kind of practices that had been reported on and were intentionally targeting conservative groups, then that's outrageous and there's no place for it.

More distortions!

Not "IF, IN FACT, IRS personnel engaged in the kind of practices that had been reported on and were intentionally targeting conservative groups" - we know with certainty that it happened. I guess Obama didn't listen very closely to those news reports we all heard last week.

And they have to be held fully accountable, because the IRS as an independent agency requires absolute integrity, and people have to have confidence that they're applying it in a non-partisan way -- applying the laws in a non-partisan way.

And you should feel that way regardless of party. I don't care whether you're a Democrat, independent or a Republican. At some point, there are going to be Republican administrations. At some point, there are going to be Democratic ones. Either way, you don't want the IRS ever being perceived to be biased and anything less than neutral in terms of how they operate. So this is something that I think people are properly concerned about.

I have no patience left when it comes to King Obama. I can no longer tolerate Obama drawing from his bottomless well of BS.

The guy is shredding the Constitution. It's happening on his watch. The buck stops with him, but he refuses to take responsibility.

I always thought Obama was most like Jimmy Carter, one of the worst presidents of the 20th century. Now, Obama's morphing into Richard Nixon in terms of abusing his power.

If he's impeached, Obama will be in Bill Clinton's league.

Obama thinks he can get away with anything. So far, because of his willing partners in the Leftist media and weak, wobbly Republicans, Obama has done exactly that.

I've had enough.

Just some low-level workers in Cincinnati. What a crock!