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It's worth noting that an FBI investigation found no evidence that the IRS was targeting conservative groups, and that the apology was issued by the Trump Admin
by tlmchncl 7y ago
It's worth noting that an FBI investigation found no evidence that the IRS was targeting conservative groups, and that the apology was issued by the Trump Administration, who might have a vested interest in making the IRS look bad.
"In January 2014, James Comey, who at the time was the FBI director, told Fox News that its investigation had found no evidence so far warranting the filing of federal criminal charges in connection with the controversy, as it had not found any evidence of "enemy hunting", and that the investigation continued. On October 23, 2015, the Justice Department declared that no criminal charges would be filed. On September 8, 2017, the Trump Justice Department declined to reopen the criminal investigation into Lois Lerner, a central figure in the controversy.[1]
In late September 2017, an exhaustive report by the Treasury Department's inspector general found that from 2004 to 2013, the IRS used both conservative and liberal keywords to choose targets for further scrutiny."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_targeting_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_targeting_controversy
- tathougies 7y agoI'm sorry, what? Your response to my criticism that the IRS has been known to use its authority to censor political speech is to point out that they are using it to censor both conservative and liberal speech? So, my argument that the IRS is being used for censorship was basically understated, and your claim is that the IRS's willingness to censor goes well beyond what I insinuated. Thank you for making my point. Was your argument supposed to prove me wrong that an overly large taxation bureaucracy has been shown to be an instrument by which the government can threaten political groups' fundamental right to free speech? I think perhaps you need to try again.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- ivalm 7y agoThey weren't censoring, they were ensuring that orgs claiming to be non-profit really adhered to regulations. They did it to both parties/sides so it was just a broad "make sure political non-profits play by rules" push, which is a good thing.
- wuliwong 7y agoThe government did wind up settling. https://www.courthousenews.com/justice-department-settles-tea-party-suits-irs-scrutiny/ https://www.courthousenews.com/justice-department-settles-te... It does seem that this could be argued as just a political move b/c the settlement occurred under Trump and the accusations are against the IRS during the Obama administration. I guess it's left to the reader if they would rather believe the results of the federal government investigating themselves or one party condemning the actions of the other.