New emails suggest Washington DC was involved in the IRS targeting of conservative groups

Much like we were told the Fast and Furious scandal was nothing more than the rash actions of a few rogue agents in the field we were also assured that the IRS targeting of conservative groups was limited to one IRS agency in Cincinnati.

However, newly released emails suggest that Washington DC was working in conjunction with the Cincinnati office to target the opposition. Oh, and Congressional Democrats may have been involved as well.

Here is more:

Judicial Watch today released a new batch of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) documents revealing that its handling of Tea Party applications was directed out of the agency’s headquarters in Washington, DC. The documents also show extensive pressure on the IRS by Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) to shut down conservative-leaning tax-exempt organizations. The IRS’ emails by Lois Lerner detail her misleading explanations to investigators about the targeting of Tea Party organizations. One key email string from July 2012 confirms that IRS Tea Party scrutiny was directed from Washington, DC. On July 6, 2010, Holly Paz (the former Director of the IRS Rulings and Agreements Division and current Manager of Exempt Organizations Guidance) asks IRS lawyer Steven Grodnitzky “to let Cindy and Sharon know how we have been handling Tea Party applications in the last few months.” Cindy Thomas is the former director of the IRS Exempt Organizations office in Cincinnati and Sharon Camarillo was a Senior Manager in their Los Angeles office. Grodnitzky, a top lawyer in the Exempt Organization Technical unit (EOT) in Washington, DC, responds: EOT is working the Tea party applications in coordination with Cincy. We are developing a few applications here in DC and providing copies of our development letters with the agent to use as examples in the development of their cases. Chip Hull [another lawyer in IRS headquarters] is working these cases in EOT and working with the agent in Cincy, so any communication should include him as well. Because the Tea party applications are the subject of an SCR [Sensitive Case Report], we cannot resolve any of the cases without coordinating with Rob.

IN COORDINATION WITH CINCY! This was not the rogue actions of a single office for it now appears as if this was a coordinated attack emanating from the IRS office in Washington DC. And it also appears as if Carl Levin was also applying pressure to the IRS to target these groups.

Here is what Judicial Watch had to say about these new revelations:

“These new documents show that officials in the IRS headquarters were responsible for the illegal delays of Tea Party applications,” stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “It is disturbing to see Lois Lerner mislead the IRS’ internal investigators about her office’s Tea Party targeting. These documents also confirm the unprecedented pressure from congressional Democrats to go after President Obama’s political opponents. The IRS scandal has now ensnared Congress.”

Barack Obama once quipped that there was not a “smidgen” of corruption in the IRS targeting scandal and you know what? He might just be right about this; there seems to be much, much more than just a smidgen of corruption in both the IRS and among some Congressional Democrats to influence the elections by marginalizing the role conservative groups would play in the elections.