Charges Unlikely in IRS Tea Party Targeting Scandal
Training issues!
It's a training issue.
It's always a training issue. Via Reuters:
The FBI is not planning to file criminal charges involving the Internal Revenue Service's extra scrutiny of the Tea Party and other conservative groups, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing law enforcement officials.
The newspaper quoted officials as saying that investigators probing the IRS actions, which unleashed a political furor in Washington, did not uncover the type of political bias or "enemy hunting" that would constitute a criminal violation. The evidence showed a mismanaged agency enforcing rules it did not understand on applications for tax exemptions, the Journal reported.
The case is still under investigation, but criminal charges were unlikely unless unexpected evidence emerged, officials familiar with the probe told the paper.
GOP Calif. Rep Darrell Issa, who has organized his own investigation at the House, is, of course, unhappy. His House investigation previously indicated that IRS employees knew the White House wanted Tea Party groups targeted. He responded to the news last night. Via Bloomberg:
"These revelations further undermine the credibility of the Attorney General Holder and the Justice Department under his leadership," Issa and Representative Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, said in a statement last night. "Given the circumstances, there is little reason for the American people to have confidence in this investigation."
The IRS said in May that it had given extra scrutiny to Tea Party groups applying for nonprofit status, unleashing a scandal that led to the ouster of the agency's acting chief and several other senior officials. Congressional committees, including the House Oversight panel led by Issa, have begun investigations and the Justice Department has been conducting a criminal probe.
Issa was also upset at the news that the lead investigator was also a donor to President Barack Obama's campaign, which doesn't exactly cast a good light on the independence of the investigation.