Jim Martin: “No wonder President Obama didn’t see a ‘smidgen of corruption,’ he was looking down at the floor when he should have been looking at the mountain of corruption right in front of him.

(Alexandria, Virginia) – An avalanche of information underscoring wrongdoing, corruption and criminal acts at the IRS under President Obama’s appointees, most significantly former IRS head of exempt groups Lois Lerner, was released today by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI).  The committee voted out a criminal referral on Ms. Lerner to the Justice Department for review of possible criminal acts, and Ms. Lerner faces a vote of contempt tomorrow in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee for twice failing to testify.

The laundry list of improper and possibly illegal acts by Ms. Lerner and her colleagues at the Treasury Department agency contradicts President Obama’s earlier assert that there is “not even a smidgen” of corruption regarding the IRS scandal which saw hundreds of conservative groups and individuals singled out for additional scrutiny and political intimidation.  Camp’s exhaustive report brought a comment by 60 Plus Association Chairman Jim Martin, leader of the nation’s largest conservative seniors organization with over 7.2 million senior supporters.

“So much for not a ‘smidgen’ of a hint of corruption at the IRS.  No wonder President Obama didn’t see it, he was looking down at the floor for a smidgen when he should have been looking straight ahead at the mountain of corruption right in front of his face.”

The evidence the committee pointed to shows three patterns of improper and possibly illegal behavior by Lerner: 1) improperly influencing agency action and denying due process and equal protection under the law; 2) impeding investigators with misleading and incomplete answers; 3) releasing confidential taxpayer information to unauthorized recipients.

“There can remain no doubt that Obama has used the IRS as a political arm of the Democrat party,” Martin continued.  “So now we learn that every group improperly scrutinized has ‘coincidentally’ been conservative and a political opponent of the President.  The odds that isn’t improper intimidation and corruption and is a mere coincidence is greater than winning Warren Buffett’s billion dollar basketball challenge. It’s absolutely insulting to suggest anyone buy a word they’re saying.

“Unlike Governor Chris Christie, who faced his scandal openly, demanding answers of his staff and cooperating with authorities, all we get from Obama and his Democrat friends on the Hill are smug answers and attacks on those seeking to find the truth and defend ordinary American citizens.  This shameful display must be investigated until the bitter end, and all those who played a part, regardless of how high this scandal leads, must be held accountable.  Using government agencies to coerce and intimidate political opponents is un-American and a breach of the promise to uphold the Constitution.  President Obama’s failure to take this seriously and offer his apologies to those targeted and injured by this criminal enterprise is nearly as disturbing as the scandal itself.”

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