Letters show IRS higher-ups requested info on conservative groups...lawsuit filed

Not 'rogue' agents...and NBC is reporting this!

NBCNews: Additional scrutiny of conservative organizations’ activities by the IRS did not solely originate in the agency’s Cincinnati office, with requests for information coming from other offices and often bearing the signatures of higher-ups at the agency, according to attorneys representing some of the targeted groups. At least one letter requesting information about one of the groups bears the signature of Lois Lerner, the suspended director of the IRS Exempt Organizations department in Washington.

Jay Sekulow, an attorney representing 27 conservative political advocacy organizations that applied to the Internal Revenue Service for tax-exempt status, provided some of the letters to NBC News. He said the groups’ contacts with the IRS prove that the practices went beyond a few “front line” employees in the Cincinnati office, as the IRS has maintained.

“We've dealt with 15 agents, including tax law specialists -- that's lawyers -- from four different offices, including (the) Treasury (Department) in Washington, D.C.,” Sekulow said. “So the idea that this is a couple of rogue agents in Cincinnati is not correct.”

Brian Preston of PJTatler writes that 'At least one letter' is low-balling it. Sekulow says at least 15 of the letters that the groups received from the IRS bore Lois Lerner’s signature. This evidence has triggered Sekulow to move forward with a lawsuit on behalf of the conservative groups he's representing.



You heard that right...they're still targeting conservative groups! Sekulow appeared with a fellow ACLJ attorney on Hannity last night to discuss the case moving forward.

Also, there's another bit of interesting info from the NBC piece to note...

Cleta Mitchell, another attorney representing conservative groups that allege they were targeted, said an IRS agent in Cincinnati told her a “task force” IRS office in Washington, D.C., was making the decisions about the processing of applications, and that she subsequently dealt with IRS representatives there.

“(The IRS agent in Cincinnati) told me that in fact the case would be transferred to a special task force out of Washington, and that he was told – he was the originally assigned agent – that he wasn’t allowed to make decisions, the decisions were all going to be made in Washington,” Mitchell said. “I know that this process was going on in Washington because I’ve dealt with those people.”

Time to discover the identity of that particular agent and subpoena him/her NOW, Mr. Issa.