This is so good it’s worth its own post:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXHfZ_qgzHA[/youtube]
It becomes painfully obvious why Koskinen was appointed commissioner of the IRS. He is a lawyer but hasn’t practiced law in 45 years. He is ignorant of the law and specifically ignorant of tax law.
He’s perfect for the job.
His claims are based on his “feelings” and have nothing to do with the law. Koskinen is sure the law hasn’t been broken but he doesn’t know the what the law is.
He’s perfect for Obama. He’s a partisan goober.
Here’s Issa grilling Koskinen:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y12atsVotnU[/youtube]
Rep. Jason Chaffetz had no better luck with Koskinen:
Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz needled Koskinen about a short-term data backup that the IRS had in place – but never used – when Lerner’s hard drive crashed in 2011.
‘It’s actually a disaster recovery system,’ the IRS commissioner testified, ‘and it backs up for six months in case the entire system goes down … That was the rule in 2011. Policy.’
Chaffetz wanted to know, ‘Why didn’t they just go to that six-month tape?’
Koskinen replied that it is ‘a disaster recovery tape that has all of the emails on it, and is a very complicated tape to actually extract emails [from], but I have not seen any emails to explain why they didn’t do it. So I – It would be difficult, but I don’t know why they didn’t do it.’
‘But you said that the IRS was going to extraordinary lengths to give it to the recovery team, correct?’ Chaffetz quizzed.
‘That’s correct,’ said Koskinen.
‘But it’s backed up – on tape?’
‘For six months, yes.’
‘So,’ Chaffetz asked, ‘why didn’t you get them off the backup?’
‘All I know about that is that the backup tapes are disaster recovery tapes that put everything in one lump,’ Koskinen replied, ‘and extracting individual emails out of that is very costly and difficult, and it was not the policy at the time.’
‘Did anybody try?’ Chaffetz asked the IRS commissioner.
‘I have no idea or indication that they did,’ came his answer.
This is wholesale criminality. The House needs to defund the IRS completely.
Funny how there wasn’t enough money for keeping emails (there was $1.8 billion last year for IRS IT support) but there was plenty for bonuses. There’s absolutely no doubt about this being a huge cover-up.
If you or I tried this with the IRS we’d be jail and in jail is where Koskinen and Lerner belong.
Trey Gowdy for President.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.
Gowdy put on his best grandstanding TV lawyer act but in the end, he got nothing because there is nothing and ended up looking like another arrogant wingnut screecher.
This AM the female who was later rewarded by being given a White House job is ”testifying.”
She managed to be there 6 months without interfacing at all with collectors of LL’s emails.
She knew her ”job” as laison between them and the IG meant she should make sure the IG’s directives were complied with but she did not do that.
All she did was laison without meeting, seeing or talking to anybody but the IG.
All the while the collectors willfully ignored the IG’s directives to collect ALL LL’s emails.
They only collected emails after a ”word search” said they were ”relevant.”
This was illegal.
She made sure that was all they did until she left, 6 months later.
The back-up data saving system was irrelevant by then.
So, IRS lost all those crashed hard drive emails under her watch.
That’s why the WH job as reward.
Gowdy nails this guy!! If I where on the committee I would yield my time to him and consider this to be the smartest thing to do!!
Kind of like some who base their opinion of the hearings and their validity on “feelings” (as opposed to the mounting evidence of something being covered up). Eh, Greg?
But [in a whiney voice] it was hhaaaaarrrrdddd!
Hey, have you tried to find a printer cable for a Commodore 64 lately? How about 5.25″ floppy discs? Come on, let’s be fair. Unless a computer can be disguised as a work of art, the IRS was spending none of that cash on actual upgrades.
After all is said and done, the very least that can be surmised from this ordeal is that the IRS, like any other governmental agency, is incompetent, inefficient and full of lazy louts who spend their days seeing how much work that can NOT do rather than spending our tax dollars wisely. Worst case is exactly how it looks; an administration that weaponized the IRS and then did about as good a job covering it up as it has done repairing the economy or handling foreign policy.
Talk about being schooled. My best advice to the IRS Commissioner is to resign now to salvage whatever remains of your reputation. And, Commissioner, you might want to get refund on that law school education.
I posted this elsewhere, but worth repeating…
“I thought I had seen the ultimate in smarminess, arrogance and delusion from Obama and his entire cabinet and other muslim czars in his regime.
I was wrong.
This clown Koskinen, is the consummate master.
He would fit right in as Putin’s right hand man. He even has an appropriate name!
He also reminds me of the arrogant, unrepentant and condemned NAZIS after the Nuremberg trials; beady little eyes, smirk and all. He makes my hair stand on end.”
@Jennsdad: And there is a great depth of backup in WA DC for ‘RATS like this.
Reminds me of an uncle telling me 55 years ago that most politicians were lawyers that weren’t smart enough to make a living as a lawyer. Clearly this twit and the Klintoons and barry O and numerous other political hacks — what a bunch of putrid crap!
Most telling about this particular SOB was his snarky line “I practiced law ONCE 45 years ago – gave it up for Lent” — putrid putrid putrid — the perfect demo-commie-cRAT political operative.
Wa DC needs a major fire hosing and flushing out!
@This one: Your an idiot who can’t even see the facts here!! His observations and comments are spot on!!
@This one: Yay for your side! You continue to cheer on obstruction of justice and destruction of evidence; you should be so proud.
When will these bozos actually prove something? And when will their fans in the peanut gallery catch on to the fact that they haven’t yet, and still show no signs of doing so?
@Greg:
Two years after activists for same-sex marriage obtained the confidential tax return and donor list of a national group opposed to redefining marriage, the Internal Revenue Service has admitted wrongdoing and agreed to settle the resulting lawsuit.
“The Daily Signal has learned that, under a consent judgment today, the IRS agreed to pay $50,000 in damages to the National Organization for Marriage as a result of the unlawful release of the confidential information to a gay rights group, the Human Rights Campaign, that is NOM’s chief political rival.”
It would seem that your contention that there has been no evidence of wrong doing has just been disproven by the IRS itself.
Getting harder and harder to defend this Administration, isn’t it, Greggie?
He’s a professional administrator, not a technician. He was appointed to manage a large and complex organization, not to review tax forms. I seriously doubt that the president of the Ford Motor Company is qualified to answer technical questions about tuning up a Ford automobile.
I don’t have a clue how the what Darrell Issa is babbling about relates to the matter at hand. He drops the name of Braulio Castillo as if it were some sort of central point, and throws out the word murder as if it were some way related.
It’s not so offensive that Issa is a complete idiot as it is that he assumes a majority of the American public also are.
@Greg:
You may have doubt but you don’t really know so you just throw some stupid statement out to see if it sticks.
ROTFLMAO This, coming from a guy who believes every word that comes out of our lying President’s mouth.
@retire05, #11:
Nor does the issue of same-sex marriage have anything whatsoever to do with the matter at hand.
Here’s the real situation: The idiots your lot have elected have spent enormous amounts of public time and public money on investigation after investigation, but have yet to prove any of the slanderous allegations they’re continuously cranking out.
They’ve lowered the standards of the investigative responsibilities and processes of Congress with which they’ve been entrusted to those of reality television. Which, I suppose, is only to be expected, since a large part of their target audience also seems to follow Duck Dynasty.
I hope they keep it up right through the midterms. More and more people are catching on. The Big Revelation is always just around the corner, but they have never delivered. They’re on an endless quest for the Holy Grail, which in their tawdry little world of gutter politics is a holy relic such as Monica Lewinsky’s dress.
@Greg: It has been proven beyond any doubt that conservative groups were targeted while liberals were not. It has been proven that only conservative groups were audited and harassed. It has been proven that only the information of conservative groups was illegally handed over to Obama campaign operatives. It is also proven that the administration first lied about the scandal saying it was just two “rogue agents”, then that the issue would be thoroughly investigated; lying is a form of covering up.
What needs to be shown is who gave Lerner her walking orders. While there is ample proof of extensive communications between the former IRS director and White House council, Lerner and the White House and Lerner and certain vindictive Congresspeople, it must be known who was directing what we KNOW was transpiring.
Thus the destroyed emails. Thus the stonewalling. Thus the delay. Thus the misdirection and constantly changing excuses. There is but one more piece of the mystery; hardly nothing. You just can’t face the facts.
@Bill, #15:
Bullshit. It has NOT been proven. Evidence to the contrary has been studiously IGNORED. Both conservative and non-conservative groups came under scrutiny. More conservative groups that non-conservative did so, because more new conservative groups than non-conservative groups were applying for exemptions from which groups that are primarily political are specifically excluded.
All that was established is that profiling was involved. With a limited enforcement budget and limited manpower, somebody decided it made sense to flag applications from groups with names that sounded political. It was acknowledged by the IRS that such profiling was arguably inappropriate, and it ceased.
Some people apparently believe this is indicative of a conspiracy. They’re being encouraged to think that way. But absolutely no evidence has been produced supporting this conspiracy theory.
There’s a reason why people who are predisposed to assume a suspect’s guilt are excluded from juries. They’re not excluded from a television audience, however. None of the Darrell Issa Shows are about revealing truth. They’re about manipulating public opinion and pandering to populace anger. What they chiefly care about are their ratings. Which they don’t seem to have noticed are in the toilet.
@Greg:
So you’re claiming the IRS admitted to wrong doing, and agreed to pay out $50,000.00 in taxpayer funded revenue, out of the goodness of their hearts? Greggie, you really do need a mental health check.
How many conservative groups were denied, or waited over 2 years for their tax exempt status compared to how many liberal groups that were approved after a short scrutiny? Name the liberal groups that were required to wait 2/3 years for tax exempt status. NAME THEM.
I don’t believe it is a conspiracy. I believe it was an intentional action on the part of the President of the United States and the IRS big wigs that visited the White House dozens of times during the time period that the conservative groups were being persecuted by the IRS.
@retire05, #17:
Then PROVE IT. Otherwise it’s just another one of the far right’s numerous goofball conspiracy theories, readily embraced by angry cranks such as yourself.
Rational people should require proof before buying into conspiracy theories—especially when the people telling the tale have totally transparent ulterior motives for wanting it to be believed. Namely, to damage their political opponents so they can regain the reins of power when they have no coherent platform that could carry them to that same goal.
Why wouldn’t high placed IRS officials be visiting the White House for perfectly legitimate reasons? The person who occupies the Oval Office is their Chief Executive.
@Greg:
The head of the National Archives testified that the IRS violated federal law. Guess he is just another liar in your book?
@Greg:
Why would they? Hell, Obama meets rarely with his own cabinet members
@retire05, #19:
“He” is actually a she.
No doubt the office of the National Archives has been duly notified on every other occasion when emails have been lost following the crash of a federal employee’s computer. In 2007 a Carnegie Mellon study found that the rate of hard drive crashes is typically 2 to 4 percent, with some sample rates as high as 13 percent. The federal government utilizes several million computers. Do you suppose all crashes are being reported? It’s not very likely, technical requirements of the law and federal regulations notwithstanding. Maybe Issa can somehow pin that on Obama.
The federal government hasn’t even been able to upgrade all if it’s machines from Windows XP at this point, which is a matter of far greater concern for security reasons. Budget constraints are cited. Maybe Issa should investigate that. At least the government is running ahead of the private sector in that regard.
An interesting exchange between Issa and the head of the National Archives:
I accuse Issa of being an a-hole, as well as an idiot.
@Greg:
Jennifer O’Connor was/is NOT the head of the National Archives. She was a White House lawyer.
Hell, you can’t even read an article and get it right. Who’s the idiot now?
You’re an idiot, in my considered opinion, and most likely a person afflicted with passive aggressive personality disorder who lets out their aggressive side online to get their kicks.
I stand corrected. “She” is in fact a “he.” Kindly hinge your triumph on that, and get the hell out of my face. All other points made in the post stand. Darrell Issa is a jackass. A weasel in a three-piece suit, whose own background is far more questionable than those of the people he’s attacking and belittling in front of a television camera. This is the guy the GOP has charged with investigating others. No doubt you appreciate his tactics.
@Greg:
Coming from a Obama p!mp like you, I’ll take that as a complement.
“She” was also not with the National Archives but was a White House lawyer.
You can’t even read an article and get it right.
At least I’ve got myself straight on the fact that there are few things worse than being a hater. Unlike stupidity, being a hater is a personal choice. A person can decide how to think of and treat others. A person is responsible for their hatred, and for all the baggage that goes with it. I don’t know why you take so much satisfaction in trying to get other people to fall into the same pattern. Engaging with you seems to be where that always leads. To a pointless exchange of insults like this one.
@Greg:
When caught like a
Democrat in a trap, sling pejoratives. Your handlers taught you well.@Greg:
Why do you have the nasty habit of entering a post, waiting for a response, then adding to your post as if it were part of your original comments? Mind work a little slow, Greggie?
Ah, poor Greggie. He’s such a loser
Democrat he can’t even report a news article correctly.@Greg:
How many emails are stored on your computer, Greg? If your computer crashed the minute the IRS wanted your emails tonight at 10 pm, would they all be gone tomorrow?
@Greg:
Audit shows IRS targeted conservatives, not liberals
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jun/27/irs-auditor-reaffirms-conservatives-not-liberals-w/
292 Tea Party groups targeted, 6 progressive
http://washingtonexaminer.com/treasury-irs-targeted-292-tea-party-groups-just-6-progressive-groups/article/2532456
IRS treated “progressive” groups more kindly than “Tea Party” groups
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/351930/lookout-list-not-much-broader-originally-thought-contrary-reports-eliana-johnson
IRS did not treat “Progressive” and “Tea Party” the same on BOLO list
http://dailycaller.com/2013/06/25/gop-congressman-hits-back-against-dem-claim-that-irs-targeted-progressives-too/
Barack H Obama Foundation funds polygamy, Wahhbism and got a retroactive exemption
Conservative groups harassed while liberal groups get tax-exempt status
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/06/04/Leftist-Groups-Enjoy-IRS-Tax-Exempt-Status-While-Tea-Party-Suffers
Victims of IRS abuse
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20130604/DA6MPCKO0.html
A “non-partisan, not-political, non-profit” the IRS neglected to harass
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-signs-fundraising-email-non-partisan-organizing-action_731835.html
Number of applications for tax exempt status was down when IRS began harassment
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/05/17/there-were-fewer-c4-applications-when-irs-began-targeting-tea-party
IRS threatens if groups protest Planned Parenthood, teaches the Constitution
Why did the IRS release data to left wing group?
http://www.propublica.org/article/irs-office-that-targeted-tea-party-also-disclosed-confidential-docs
IRS went after 83 year old woman
http://washingtonexaminer.com/irs-went-after-83-year-old-tea-party-granny/article/2530131
Politico says IRS harassment altered election; details of effects of intrusion
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jack-coleman/2013/05/22/politico-reporter-irs-targeting-tea-party-easily-influenced-2012-elect
Obama campaign manager met with Shulman at the White House
IRS illegally gave donor list to political rival
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/04/chairman-anti-gay-marriage-group-says-has-proof-irs-leaked-donor-details/
Did IRS suppression get Obama elected?
http://www.aei-ideas.org/2013/06/the-asterisk-president-did-the-irss-tea-party-suppression-get-obama-reelected/
Gee, Greg… “bullshit”? The bullshit is what is being stacked up and passed off as a “transparent” administration.
@drjohn, #29:
At the moment, none. That’s only because I gave up Outlook in favor of gmail’s webmail service when I recently switched from XP to Win 7. I don’t use email for critical communications any more, so I don’t worry too much about it. I do have an external drive that automatically backs up everything else. I know from personal experience that hard drive failures happen.
I consider the scenario that the IRS spelled out regarding Leherner’s emails to be plausible. There was a flaw in their backup protocol. I think how people will view this specific instance of data loss probably has a lot to do with the preconceived notions they have about the IRS and the federal government. It could have happened exactly as the IRS says. Whether it did or not isn’t known with absolute certainty.
Trey Gowdy pointed out the legal phrase foliation of evidence.
(I had thought it was EXfoliation of evidence, but I never went on to law school.)
Anyway, the jury may take into consideration (in a negative way) if evidence which could hurt an accused person’s case was destroyed by that person or his/her aiders/abettors.
Gowdy also pointed out that this applies NOT just to criminal cases but even to non-criminal cases and even investigations.
Gowdy made a purely perfect case for the impotence of Koskinen’s claim that there was no evidence that a crime had been committed when he forced Koskinen to admit he had never bothered to read any of the relevant laws or federal statutes.
Yes, Rep. Gowdy destroyed Mr. Koskinen.
Willful ignorance is no defense.
Willful ignorance does not equal doing one’s job.
‘You have a problem with credibility’: IRS chief comes under fire at House hearing
@Greg:
I have an account via Outlook. I can access it from any of my internet devices and were any of them to “crash” I would lose none of my emails. None of my emails have ever been “stored” on any of my computers.
So you seriously believe that all seven computers failed at the same time and lost all the sought emails from exactly the same time period?
Do you really believe that Lerner’s hard drive being recycled was merely coincidental with the arrival of Camp’s letter ten day before?
Greggie seems to think if the hard drive of one computer (an internal component exclusive of each individual computer) that it would affect the ability of other computers to be able to log on to the program (using Lois Lerner’s password). It does not.
And if Lois Lerner had a computer that allowed data to be entered that was not accessible by other computers, we have an even greater problem with the IRS. No federal employees computer should be able to data enter without oversight. Remember the clowns caught watching p0rn on their federal computers for hours on end?
The IRS Commissioner who testified is a stooge. He is just there to waste time and deflect answers. We need to toss Lerner’s Ass in jail and let her rot until she tells the truth.
@drjohn, #35:
That isn’t actually the scenario that was described in the attachment to the letter the IRS sent to Ron Wyden. Item B, Employees’ Email Storage, beginning at the bottom of page 2 of the attachment and continuing through most of page 3, explains how email could wind up only on the hard drive of an employee’s PC. Either by error or intention, Lerner could have failed to properly archive email when advised that the limits of her storage space allocation had been reached.
What was present in that material is only assumed to have been significant to the investigation because it’s what is missing. It might have all been totally irrelevant. She may have simply deleted a period of time of the appropriate size at let it go at that. She might have considered routine correspondence unrelated to any particular IRS case file not to be a record meeting the requirements for permanent retention.
@old guy, #37:
Maybe Issa should consider having her waterboarded.
The point being that they have no evidence of any wrongdoing on her part, and she’s not obliged to assist them in obtaining any. The 5th Amendment is there for precisely that purpose. It’s part of that document republicans claim to revere so much.
According to this article, it is far more involved than the hearings and much worse.
Over the last few years, I have unfortunately suffered hard drive failures on two different computers. Amazingly, with an investment of about $30 at Newegg I was able to find hardware that allowed me to remove the drive(s) from the ‘failed’ computer(s), connect them as external drives to another computer and retrieve all my data.
But then I’m not a highly paid IT professional whose job it is to comply with federal records retention requirements…
@Greg: She’s not assisting him; she’s assisting the American people.
@Greg:
Again
Try that with the IRS and see what it gets you.
@Greg:
So she chose to erase only the period in question. Curious, no?
All seven did exactly the same thing.
Odd, no?
Doesn’t it seem far more likely that all colluded to erase their back-up tapes and then “crash” their hard drives intentionally such that they had to be recycled? Who doesn’t know that data can be retrieved from a crashed disk especially when the law requires you to archive the communications?
Dr John, I agree with your final point.
The House should pass a short bill to the effect of;
“The IRS is breaking the law
the mechanism within the IRS has failed to stop the law breaking.
The Administration has failed to stop the law breaking.
The lawbreaking appears to be spreading.
Congress is the third line of defense and can not allow law breaking to continue.
The IRS will no longer be funded after September 30th, 2014.”
@This one: Come back when the IRS comes after you. They are the only agency that can come into your house, arrest you, freeze your assets, take your house and put you in jail. Yes they are out of control.
Short story. My mother and father owned a small company. After my father died she depended upon the accountant to pay the taxes et al. Evidently there was some hanky panky and she ended up owing a sum of money. She never received a tax refund for the next 13 years as the IRS took the money to pay down the sum which had grown exponentially with the interest. My mother was then diagnosed with aggressive lung cancer. Her new accountant wrote the IRS asking if she could pay a sum to pay off the difference. The IRS, in writing stated they would wait until she was dead and take if from her estate. This is the United States of America? It doesn’t sound like it.
If you believe the emails were lost accidently, I feel sorry that you are living in a shoebox. Lerner’s hard drive crashed ten days after receiving the request for the email traffic. The contract to back up the email traffic was cancelled shortly after. Coincidence? Only if you are brain dead.
@Greg: Greggie, the real sniff test for you would be if your where to reverse the situation and make each position politically opposite to what it is now you would be having your usual shit hemorrhage and you know it!! Remember Romney and Reid’s false claim of him cheating on his taxes??
Greg#39
Waterboarding Lois works for me. Maybe we could finally get some truthful answers.
As to the 5th, I believe she forfeited that right when she read her statement, but no one called her on it.
To me, what these committee hearing show is just how toothless the House is. They can roar and roar, but cannot bite. What a waste of time.
I will be curious how Trey does with the Benghazi hearings.
@enchanted: @This one: Come back when the IRS comes after you. They are the only agency that can come into your house, arrest you, freeze your assets, take your house and put you in jail. Yes they are out of control.
@Greg: Greggie, the real sniff test for you would be if your where to reverse the situation and make each position politically opposite to what it is now you would be having your usual shit hemorrhage and you know it!!
Apologists for Obama must have noticed how fiercely Koskinen and the woman ”witness” have protected the identities of all the IRS email review team members.
We have no names although names have been requested repeatedly.
In fact, for a woman who liased between the IG and the IRS email review team members she couldn’t/wouldn’t name even one of them although it made her look stupid and like someone who didn’t do her job.
At the 2:21-2:28 mark of his testimony, Koskinen said:
Jack Lundberg at American Thinker on this:
As a consequence of Koskinen’s utterance, Chairman Issa and those committee members committed to finding the truth underlying the IRS scandal should immediately identify, subpoena, and compel the testimony of the IRS email review team member(s), as well as acquiring all documentation and directives controlling the conduct of the review member(s).
I’ll add, how could this review team use ”search criteria” to sift through emails that were already deleted as NOT agency actions they consider official records?
In other words, the emails the committee needs were never there on any of the 7 employees servers.
they knew these were incriminating and deleted them right away.
Only those IRS email review team members can confirm they never found any emails that carried out the IRS targeting scandal and cover-up.
The dog that didn’t bark, as Arthur Conan Doyle wrote.
Responding to the dog whistle that wasn’t heard by any one else.