Internal Revenue Service Director of Exempt Organizations Lois Lerner is sworn in before testifying to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee May 22, 2013 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Lerner was under investigation for allegedly selectively targeting tea-party organizations for IRS review. And, she happens to also be (like a whoooole bunch of other people) a member of HSUS. And repeated attempts by Berman’s Big Ag cronies to get the IRS to investigate the Humane Society of the United States for “abuse” of their nonprofit status had failed again and again and again – for lack of evidence.
As you already know, HumaneWatch never lets pesky little things like “facts” and “lack of evidence” get in the way of launching a good smear. So. as usual, they threw those three unrelated facts into the blender and came up with a doozy of a story.
According to HumaneWatch, those three unrelated and unconnected facts obviously meant that HSUS CEO, Wayne Pacelle obviously had a lock on one of the IRS’s highest-ranking directors. Which, in turn, obviously meant that Lerner had nefariously “stonewalled” HumaneWatch’s much-desired IRS investigation into HSUS.
All of these connections – like HumaneWatch’s assertion that HSUS routinely abuses its 501(c)(3) status – were, of course, presented without a shred of proof or a scintilla of evidence.
You have to hand it to these guys at HumaneWatch; they’re consistent.
Anyhoo, according to CNN, the Justice Department notified members of Congress on Friday, October 23, 2015, that it was closing its two-year investigation into whether the IRS improperly targeted the tea party and other conservative groups.
What’s more, according to the agency, there will be no charges against former IRS official Lois Lerner or anyone else at the agency for wrongdoing.
“We found no evidence that any IRS official acted based on political, discriminatory, corrupt, or other inappropriate motives that would support a criminal prosecution,” Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik said. “We also found no evidence that any official involved in the handling of tax-exempt applications or IRS leadership attempted to obstruct justice. Based on the evidence developed in this investigation and the recommendation of experienced career prosecutors and supervising attorneys at the department, we are closing our investigation and will not seek any criminal charges.”
Once again, Rick Berman and HumaneWatch ends up with… egg on their faces.
