No one outside the cabinet level appointees in the Obama administration exemplifies the corruption in Washington better than Lois Lerner. Yet for all the talk about draining the swamp, she won’t get the prosecution she deserves. Just like the Trump campaign’s anti-Hillary chant “Lock Her Up!” turned out to be all talk and no action, so has Trump’s bluster about the IRS targeting scandal.
Republicans asked the agency in April to take a “fresh look” at the case against Lerner. On Friday, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd responded by saying President Trump reviewed the case and decided against it.
He’s a lawyer now? You’re not likely to see any tweets from Trump about why Lerner was able to retire with a cushy pension after refusing to answer questions about her role in turning the IRS into a political weapon for the Left. Candidate Trump would probably have been as outraged as the Congressional Republicans who asked for Lerner’s prosecution.
“[T]he Department determined that reopening the criminal investigation would not be appropriate based on the available evidence,” he wrote in a letter to Kevin Brady, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Brady called that a “terrible decision” that suggested political appointees are not held to the law.
“I have the utmost respect for Attorney General Sessions, but I’m troubled by his Department’s lack of action to fully respond to our request and deliver accountability,” the Texas lawmaker said in a statement.
Peter Roskam, the Illinois chairman of the tax subcommittee, also criticized the decision, terming it a “a miscarriage of justice.”
Back when the Lois Lerner was at the IRS slow rolling or denying non-profit status to groups in opposition to Barack Obama’s agenda, citizen Trump was outraged.
He @BarackObama is using the IRS to sabotage the Tea Party http://t.co/VN7SsY4t What about the Occupy Wall Street groups?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 6, 2012
Isn’t it amazing that Obama “never knew” about the IRS scandals until he saw it in the news?!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 21, 2013
Not since Watergate have we been going thru a time like this–Benghazi, IRS, wiretapping of @AP…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 14, 2013
This particular tweet has aged rather poorly for a number of reasons.
House GOP better get its act together.Defund ObamaCare. Out negotiate on debt ceiling. Form commissions on Benghazi & IRS. No excuses!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2013
Now as Trump taunts Congress about working on tax reform, the people who used the IRS as a weapon get a free pass and John Koskinen Obama’s pick to run the IRS is still at the helm.
For all the talk about draining the swamp, the Trump administration doesn’t seem to have any qualms about wallowing in it.
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