WASHINGTON – A top IRS official in the division that reviews nonprofit groups will invoke the Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer questions before a House committee investigating the agency’s improper screening of conservative nonprofit groups.

Lois Lerner, the head of the exempt organizations division of the IRS, won’t answer questions about what she knew about the improper screening – or why she didn’t reveal it to Congress, according to a letter from her defense lawyer, William W. Taylor 3rd.

Lerner was [is] scheduled to appear before the House Oversight committee Wednesday. (more…)

Spotted: @joshtpm @CapehartJ @ezraklein & other lefty columnists headed into the West Wing as a group. POTUS coffee? Carney meeting? Anyone?

— Ari Shapiro (@arishapiro) May 21, 2013

Predictions:

1. ISOLATE – Attach the word “birther” or “birtherism” or “extremist” to the people who are demanding White House transparency and investigation.

2. RIDICULE – Position all of the investigations as “attacks” against and targeting the President. This helps play the race card.

3. MARGINALIZE – Talk up the willingness of staffers to cooperate as a tool for diminishing the severity of the accusations/charges. Highlight supporters (unions) to the presidential agenda.

Hat Tip WeaselZippers:   Hmmmm?   Wonder what this could be ?

Seven months we’ve been waiting for someone, anyone, to ask the White House staff what was President Obama doing on the night the Benghazi attacks took place.    We have researched this on our own and have him tracked from 4pm to around 7:30pm (EST).  But after 7:30pm it is a total BLACKOUT – an unknown void of information.

Finally after seven MONTHS.  Chris Wallace asks White House Communications Director, Dan Pfeiffer, what was President Obama doing.  [Please watch this video clip in its entirety before continuing]

Of course Dan Pfeiffer pulls the familiar “what difference does it make” angle, with his claim that it is an “irrelevant fact“. (more…)

WASHINGTON DC – Obama administration officials who were in key positions on Sept. 11, 2012 acknowledge that a range of mistakes were made the night of the attacks on the U.S. missions in Benghazi, and in messaging to Congress and the public in the aftermath.

The officials spoke to CBS News in a series of interviews and communications under the condition of anonymity so that they could be more frank in their assessments. They do not all agree on the list of mistakes and it’s important to note that they universally claim that any errors or missteps did not cost lives and reflect “incompetence rather than malice or cover up.” Nonetheless, in the eight months since the attacks, this is the most sweeping and detailed discussion by key players of what might have been done differently. (more…)

There are just some jaw dropping discoveries coming forth from the Congressional IRS Hearings and the investigative reporting being done into the background and substance of the claims.

(*note* liar avoidance 101 teaches you that when a person says “to be honest with you” as the lead to their next statement – they are NOT to be trusted.  Ever.   Honest people do not need to qualify when they are honest, and when they are lying.)

First: The IRS intentionally withheld the information last year until after the 2012 election cycle because they knew it would destroy the chances for the Democrats and President Obama specifically. Even to the extent they intentionally misled congress:

The Treasury Department’s inspector general testified at a congressional hearing Friday that he had informed Obama administration officials of an investigation into improper scrutiny of conservative non-profit groups by the Internal Revenue Service during the run-up to the 2012 election.

J. Russell George told Treasury’s general counsel of the investigation on June 4, and Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin — then-Sec. Timothy Geithner’s No. 2 — “shortly thereafter,” according to the New York Times.  (link)

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(Via Slate)  If you are a customer of Verizon Wireless, you might want to consider switching carriers in light of the Associated Press phone snooping scandal.

When the feds came knocking for AP journalists’ call records last year, Verizon apparently turned the data over with no questions asked. The New York Times, citing an AP employee, reported Tuesday that at least two of the reporters’ personal cellphone records “were provided to the government by Verizon Wireless without any attempt to obtain permission to tell them so the reporters could ask a court to quash the subpoena.” (more…)

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