IRS Hid Results of Probe of Targeting Pro-Lifers While Obama Campaigned

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   May 22, 2013   |   12:36PM   |   Washington, DC

The Internal Revenue Service conducted an internal probe over its targeting of pro-life and conservative groups that ended well before the 2012 presidential election, but reports show the results were hidden.

The agency hasn’t officially reprimanded a single staffer over it.

“An IRS internal investigation concluded that the agency was improperly targeting conservative groups a year before an inspector general’s report revealed the same practices,” National Review reports.

House Oversight Committee chairman Darrell Issa said Wednesday that committee investigators interviewed the IRS’s Director of Exempt Organizations, Rulings and Agreements, Holly Paz, who indicated she participated in the agency’s internal review, which concluded in May of 2012.

“Think about it,” Issa said. “For more than a year, the IRS knew that it had inappropriately targeted groups of Americans based on their political beliefs and without mentioning and in fact without honestly answering questions that were the result of this internal investigation.”

Brietbart provided more details on how the IRS kept the results quiet while President Barack Obama campaign for re-election.

In a startling exchange Wednesday during the IRS hearings before the House Oversight and Reform Committee, America learned that the IRS knew in May of 2012 that its employees were targeting conservative organization with paralyzing harassment and Kafka-esque audits.

Although the IRS knew this, they did not report this information to Congress.

“While a tremendous amount of attention is centered about the Inspector General’s report, or investigation, the committee has learned from Ms. Paz that she in fact participated in an IRS internal investigation that concluded in May of 2012 – May 3 of 2012 – and found essentially the same thing that Mr. George found more than a year later,” Committee Chair Issa said.

Issa then turned his attention to Treasury Inspector General J. Russell George. George’s IRS audit wasn’t completed until the middle of this month, but backed by statute, Issa told George that he had a legal obligation to inform Congress of what he was finding in the process of completing his audit.

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With the scandal concerning the IRS and its targeting of pro-life and conservative groups growing, national conservative activists held nationwide rallies today at IRS offices across the country.

Reports indicate President Barack Obama’s top attorney knew in April that the Internal Revenue Service was targeting pro-life and conservative groups. The reports show Obama’s top lawyer was notified in April that the Treasury Department’s inspector general had finished an audit of the IRS over the allegations.

The IRS will soon face more than controversy and Congressional hearings over its discrimination of pro-life and conservative groups. The federal agency will soon find itself in court.

The news comes as a report shows James Dobson, the pro-life family advocate, disclosed that he was a victim of IRS discrimination because he spoke out against pro-abortion President Barack Obama.

Obama addressed the massive IRS scandal and promised it would never happen again.

“I’ll do everything in my power to make sure this never happens again,” he promised.

The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee announced he will hold a hearing on the IRS scandal this week. The federal agency has targeted pro-life groups as well as conservative and religious organizations.

In one case LifeNews has profiled, a pro-life group was told it had to promote abortion. A top pro-life legal group also informed LifeNews that cases it handled support mounting accusations that demonstrate the agency’s abuse of pro-life organizations.