{"id":1634082,"date":"2022-09-06T11:48:01","date_gmt":"2022-09-06T15:48:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1634082"},"modified":"2022-09-06T11:49:11","modified_gmt":"2022-09-06T15:49:11","slug":"irs-official-in-charge-of-87000-new-agents-played-key-role-in-obama-era-targeting-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/irs-official-in-charge-of-87000-new-agents-played-key-role-in-obama-era-targeting-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"IRS Official in Charge of 87,000 New Agents Played Key Role in Obama-Era Targeting Scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Firs-official-in-charge-of-87000-new-agents-played-key-role-in-obama-era-targeting-scandal%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1634082&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>House Republicans say they will keep a \u201cwatchful eye\u201d on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-internal-revenue-service\">Internal Revenue Service<\/a> official tapped to run the centralized office housing\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailysignal.com\/2022\/08\/12\/fact-checking-team-biden-on-who-those-87000-new-irs-agents-would-audit\/\">87,000 incoming new agents<\/a>\u00a0because she has ties to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-irs\">IRS<\/a>\u2019 targeting of tea party groups during the Obama administration.<\/p>\n<p>The Daily Signal\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailysignal.com\/2022\/08\/22\/irs-to-set-up-centralized-office-for-87000-new-agents\/\">first reported<\/a>\u00a0that IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig had appointed Nikole Flax, commissioner in charge of the IRS\u2019 Large Business &#038; International Division, to lead the establishment of the agency\u2019s centralized office.<\/p>\n<p>In 2014, Flax was among\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2014\/06\/26\/meet-the-seven-irs-employees-whose-computers-crashed\/\">seven IRS employees<\/a>\u00a0who said their computers had crashed, making it impossible for them to provide information sought by the House Ways and Means Committee in investigating the agency\u2019s targeting of tea party and other conservative groups.<\/p>\n<p>Flax made\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2014\/06\/19\/irs-lost-emails-from-official-that-met-with-top-obama-assistant\/\">31 visits<\/a>\u00a0to the Obama White House from July 2010 through May 2013.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery American should be concerned that a key player in the IRS\u2019 targeting of conservative groups and ensuing cover-up has been tapped to oversee the implementation of Democrats\u2019 tax and spending bill,\u201d Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), ranking member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, told The Daily Signal.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4711916\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/09\/05\/NikoleFlax_Getty-1200x624.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4711916 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/09\/05\/NikoleFlax_Getty-1200x624.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"333\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Nikole Flax, the IRS official in charge of a centralized office for 87,000 new agents, was part of the 2013 scandal exposing IRS targeting of conservative organizations. Pictured: Lois Lerner, then director of IRS\u2019 exempt organizations unit, is sworn in May 22, 2013, before a House committee investigating the scandal. (Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<h2>Lois Lerner Connection<\/h2>\n<p>In an email sent May 8, 2013, Lois Lerner, head of the IRS\u2019 tax-exempt organizations unit when the scandal erupted,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailysignal.com\/2014\/12\/23\/4-things-need-know-findings-irs-targeting-scandal\/\">told Flax<\/a>\u00a0that she received a call about working with the Justice Department to pursue certain political organizations that \u201clied\u201d on IRS forms.<\/p>\n<p>Lerner was the central figure of the Obama administration\u2019s IRS targeting scandal. She said her computer also crashed.<\/p>\n<p>Lerner invoked her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself in testimony before the House Oversight and Reform Committee. After being placed on paid administrative leave, she retired later in 2013.<\/p>\n<p>The IRS didn\u2019t respond directly to the concerns raised by Flax\u2019s background. Instead, the agency referred The Daily Signal to Rettig\u2019s memo to staff announcing that Flax would run a new \u201ccentralized office\u201d to implement elements of the tax and spending legislation that Democrats dubbed the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-inflation-reduction-act\">Inflation Reduction Act<\/a>. The package, signed into law by President Joe Biden,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailysignal.com\/2022\/08\/09\/rather-than-secure-border-democrats-want-to-sic-army-of-irs-agents-on-americans\/\">provides $80 billion<\/a>\u00a0for the IRS to add almost 87,000 new agents.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the computer crash during the congressional investigation of IRS targeting, Rettig said that Flax would work with Congress and others in her new role leading the effort.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNikole has an extensive background in a variety of roles across the IRS since 2008,\u201d Rettig\u2019s memo says, adding: \u201cHer wide range of experience will serve her well as she works with internal and external stakeholders, including Treasury, Congress, IRS employees and taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rettig\u2019s memo to IRS staffers about the new office also quotes Flax.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a historic time for the IRS, and we are working to move quickly to begin work on the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailysignal.com\/2022\/08\/06\/senate-democrats-advance-schumer-manchin-biden-tax-and-spending-bill\/\">Inflation Reduction Act<\/a>\u00a0signed into law earlier this week,\u201d Flax is quoted as saying. \u201cThis is an exciting opportunity, and we will be moving quickly with our work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Flax became director of the IRS Large Business &#038; International Division in 2021.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/newsroom\/irs-announces-several-key-executive-changes-as-agency-gears-up-to-implement-the-taxpayer-first-act\">Previously<\/a>, she had been deputy commissioner for the division since 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Flax also is a former chief of staff to IRS Commissioner Steve Miller and was assistant deputy IRS commissioner for services and enforcement.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans on the House Oversight and Reform Committee will monitor the IRS\u2019 actions, Comer said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis entrenched bureaucrat will oversee the establishment of a new, centralized IRS office and the hiring of up to 87,000 IRS agents, which raises concerns that the Swamp could weaponize new resources to target and harass Americans,\u201d Comer said in a statement provided to The Daily Signal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOversight Committee Republicans will keep a watchful eye on this office. If there is a whiff of government abuse, we will work to hold bad actors accountable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<h2>\u2018Frequent Visitor to White House\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>In 2014, then-House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) accused the IRS of \u201clying\u201d by attempting to hide two years of emails from Lerner and other officials.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDespite their attempt to bury the missing Lerner emails on page 15 of a 27-page letter that arrived late Friday, we now know documents from other central figures, like Nikole Flax, are missing,\u201d Camp said in a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailysignal.com\/2014\/06\/17\/house-chair-hollywood-plots-believable-irs-white-house-missing-emails\/\">joint statement<\/a>\u00a0with Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.), then-chairman of the Ways and Means oversight subcommittee.<\/p>\n<p>The two Republican lawmakers added:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe fact that Ms. Flax was a frequent visitor to the White House and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building only raises more questions. Who was she visiting at the White House and what were they talking about? Was she updating the White House on the targeting or was she getting orders?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese are answers we don\u2019t yet have, because\u2014surprise, surprise\u2014a few computers crashed. Plot lines in Hollywood are more believable than what we are getting from this White House and the IRS.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee in 2014, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen defended Flax, saying she had two IRS computers and that her IRS emails should be intact.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose press releases with regard to Nicole Flax were inaccurate and misleading and it demonstrates why we\u2019ll provide this committee a full report \u2026 when it is completed,\u201d Koskinen\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2014\/06\/irs-emails-lost-tea-party-john-koskinen-108118\">told<\/a>\u00a0the committee. \u201cWe are not going to dribble out the information and have it played out in the press.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A string of audits and congressional investigations found that the IRS improperly targeted tea party and other conservative groups during the 2010 and 2012 election cycles by holding up their applications for tax-exempt status.<\/p>\n<h2>Chronology of IRS Scandal<\/h2>\n<p>In May 2013, the Treasury Department\u2019s inspector general for tax administration released a report\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.treasury.gov\/tigta\/auditreports\/2013reports\/201310053fr.pdf\">asserting<\/a>\u00a0that in the 2010 and 2012 election cycles, the IRS \u201cused inappropriate criteria that identified tea party and other organizations applying for tax-exempt status based upon their policy positions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That finding prompted investigations by the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailysignal.com\/2014\/12\/23\/4-things-need-know-findings-irs-targeting-scandal\/\">House Ways and Means Committee and the House Oversight and Reform Committee<\/a>, which concluded in 2014 that top IRS officials knew of the targeting of conservative groups and decided against informing Congress.<\/p>\n<p>In 2015, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailysignal.com\/2015\/08\/06\/bipartisan-report-confirms-irs-mistreatment-of-conservative-groups\/\">Senate Finance Committee<\/a>\u00a0released its findings that Lerner\u2019s personal and political views played a role. The report said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLerner orchestrated a process that subjected these applicants to multiple levels of review by numerous components within the IRS, thereby ensuring that they would suffer long delays and be required to answer burdensome and unnecessary questions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.atr.org\/irs-may-still-be-targeting-conservative-groups\">report<\/a>, from the Government Accountability Office in 2016, stated that the IRS still might be targeting some nonprofits unfairly \u201cbased on an organization\u2019s religious, educational, political, or other views.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, Justice Department prosecutor Barbara Bosserman\u2014who had\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/freebeacon.com\/issues\/obama-donor-doj-prosecutor-spent-1500-hours-investigating-irs-targeting-conservative-groups\/\">donated<\/a>\u00a0a total of $6,750 to Barack Obama\u2019s presidential campaigns and the Democratic National Committee from 2004 to 2012\u2014declined to press charges after investigating the matter.<\/p>\n<p>The IRS ultimately\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/trump-doj-settles-with-true-the-vote-tea-party-group-targeted-by-obama-irs\">settled lawsuits<\/a>\u00a0with several tea party and other conservative groups in 2017 and 2018.<\/p>\n<p>In 2016, Congress approved a provision to prevent the IRS from doing anything to target organizations or groups applying for tax-exempt status.<\/p>\n<p><em>Reprinted by permission from <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailysignal.com\/\"><em>The Daily Signal<\/em><\/a><em>, a publication of <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heritage.org\/\"><em>The Heritage Foundation<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-fred-lucas\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/WEB_FredLucas.jpg\" alt=\"Fred Lucas\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Fred Lucas is chief news correspondent and manager of the Investigative Reporting Project for The Daily Signal. Lucas is also the author of \u201cAbuse of Power: Inside The Three-Year Campaign to Impeach Donald Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>House Republicans say they will keep a \u201cwatchful eye\u201d on the Internal Revenue Service official tapped to run the centralized office housing\u00a087,000 incoming new agents\u00a0because she has ties to the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1634084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1634082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1634082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1634084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1634082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1634082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1634082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}