Cleta Mitchell:
Let’s all be very clear: The FBI did not conduct an “investigation” into the IRS scandal.
Not unless there are new protocols for investigating potential unlawful activities, which discard the quaint notion of speaking to the victims.
In May, President Obama hurriedly called a White House news conference to stem the outrage about the IRS’s admitted targeting of conservative groups, and emphatically told the nation: “I will not tolerate this kind of behavior in any agency but especially in the IRS, given the power that it has and the reach that it has into all of our lives.” He appointed Attorney General Eric Holder to conduct a criminal investigation into possible wrongdoing — and since then, many of us have wondered, when actually is this investigation going to start?
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Last week, we learned that the head of the “probe,” Barbara Bosserman, is a donor to Obama campaigns and the Democratic National Committee. This is, someone who could hardly be trusted to understand what all the fuss is about.Now we learn that the FBI has “concluded” that there was no actual illegal activity involved in the IRS scandal, conclusions reached without ever speaking to a single conservative or Tea Party organization leader or attorney to learn what actually happened these past four years.
Having represented dozens of groups before the IRS over the years, including many victimized by the IRS in this scandal, one might have thought the FBI might have called me or even one of my clients.
But, to paraphrase the song, if our telephone ain’t ringin,’ I guess it must be the FBI “investigating” the IRS.
Had the FBI bothered to contact or interview me, any of my clients, or anyone who actually could tell the FBI what the IRS did, we could have provided some specific facts about the IRS scandal.
And here are some additional inquiries I would have suggested:
• What did the FBI do in terms of investigating the obvious lies to Congress in 2012 by assorted IRS officials who claimed there was ‘no targeting’ of conservative organizations? Last time I checked, it is a felony to lie to Congress (ask Roger Clemens).
Obama’s Jedi mind tricks wont work on us.