Thread: Darrell Issa accuses Elijah Cummings of prompting IRS to target “True the Vote"

By The Right Scoop
Posted on Apr 9, 2014

WHOA: Darrell Issa accuses Elijah Cummings of prompting IRS to target “True the Vote"

It appears the crap is now hitting the fan in the House Oversight Committee:

WASHINGTON EXAMINER – House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has accused the panel’s top Democrat of prompting the Internal Revenue Service in 2012 to target a conservative organization applying for nonprofit status.

Issa said records obtained last week from the IRS show communications from the office of ranking member Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., about True the Vote, a Texas-based, nonprofit conservative group that aims to prevent voter fraud.

The communications at one point involved Lois Lerner, the ex-IRS official who Issa’s panel is poised to hold in contempt of Congress on Thursday for refusing to provide testimony about her involvement in targeting conservative groups.

“The IRS and the Oversight Minority made numerous requests for virtually identical information from True the Vote, raising concerns that the IRS improperly shared protected taxpayer information with Rep. Cummings’ staff,” a statement from the Oversight panel reads.

According to Issa, Cummings and his staff sought “copies of all training materials used for volunteers, affiliates, or other entities,” from True the Vote.

Five days after the Cummings inquiry, the IRS sent True the Vote an email requesting “a copy of [True the Vote’s] volunteer registration form,” “… the process you use to assign volunteers,” “how you keep your volunteers in teams,” and “how your volunteers are deployed … following the training they receive by you.”

Issa said Cummings and his office asked for more information in January 2013 about True the Vote, this time getting Lerner involved.
At one point, an email revealed, Lerner asked her deputy, “Did we find anything?”

When the deputy said she had not received any new information, Lerner responded, “thanks – check tomorrow please.”

Issa said Cummings had previously denied asking the IRS about True the Vote.

There’s more here at Issa’s Oversight website.

http://therightscoop.com/whoa-darrel...true-the-vote/

IRS Gave House Oversight Democrats Info on Targeted Conservative Group

Cummings previously denied IRS contact

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md. / AP

BY: CJ Ciaramella
April 9, 2014 4:57 pm

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sent tax documents on a targeted conservative group to Democratic staff on the House Oversight Committee, newly released emails show, despite previous denials by ranking Oversight Democrat Elijah Cummings (D., Md.) that such contact had occurred.

Emails released by the GOP-led Oversight Committee show Democratic staff requested information from the IRS’ tax-exempt division on True The Vote, a conservative group that monitors polling places for voter fraud.

Republicans and conservative activists say the IRS tax-exempt division, led by former official Lois Lerner, targeted dozens of conservative groups because of their politics while ignoring similar progressive organizations.

Cummings publicly requested information from True the Vote in October 2012 on its volunteer activities and training.

Five days later, the IRS sent True the Vote a letter requesting the group provide the agency with copies of its volunteer registration forms and additional information on its volunteer activities.

Cummings’ staff requested more information from the IRS about True the Vote in January 2013. The request was channeled from the IRS’ Legislative Affairs office to several other IRS officials, including Lerner.

Three days later, Lerner wrote to her deputy Holly Paz: “Did we find anything?” Paz wrote that she hadn’t heard back, to which Lerner replied: “thanks—check tomorrow please.”

In a February 2014 Oversight Committee hearing, Cummings deniedallegations by True The Vote attorney Cleta Mitchell that his staff had worked with the IRS in targeting the group.

“We want to get to the bottom of how these coincidences happened, and we’re going to try to figure out whether any—if there was any staff of this committee that might have been involved in putting True the Vote on the radar screen of some of these Federal agencies,” Mitchell said. “We don’t know that, but we—we’re going to do everything we can do to try to get to the bottom of how did this all happen.”

“What she just said is absolutely incorrect and not true,” Cummings replied.

Cummings has staunchly opposed the Oversight Committee’s months-long investigation of the IRS targeting scandal, arguing it is a waste of time and money.

Oversight chairman Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) and five subcommittee chairmen sent a letter to Cummings Thursday demanding an explanation for his staff’s activities.

“Although you have previously denied that your staff made inquiries to the IRS about conservative organization True the Vote that may have led to additional agency scrutiny, communication records between your staff and IRS officials—which you did not disclose to Majority Members or staff—indicates otherwise,” Issa wrote. “As the Committee is scheduled to consider a resolution holding Ms. Lerner, a participant in responding to your communications that you failed to disclose, in contempt of Congress, you have an obligation to fully explain your staff’s undisclosed contacts with the IRS.”

Cummings’ office was not immediately available for comment.
The House Ways and Means Committee voted Thursday to hold Lerner in contempt.

​http://freebeacon.com/issues/irs-gav...rvative-group/

Going back to 2012.

It is obvious to me that Cummings place on this committee has been to obstruct rather than investigate. It is like letting the fox sit in the henhouse.

DEMOCRATS TARGET ANTI-VOTER FRAUD GROUP TRUE THE VOTE



by BREITBART NEWS
7 Oct 2012

On Friday, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) launched an investigation into the anti-voter fraud group True the Vote. Citizens trained by True the Vote petitioned offices around the country, asking local election officials to review questionable voter registrations and remove dead and duplicates from the voting rolls. True the Vote’s goal: to ensure the veracity of each and every vote. That involves training volunteers to check voter lists and monitor polls on election day to ensure compliance by poll workers.

But Democrats aren’t interested in policing voter fraud; they’re far more interested in allowing improper voters to go to the ballot box. Perhaps that’s because every mass case of voter fraud around the country – from the Minnesota Senate election of Al Franken to the Washington gubernatorial election of Christine Gregoir – seems to benefit Democratic candidates.

And voter fraud does happen: as David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post reported this week, “It may still be possible to steal an American election, if you know the right way to go about it. Recent court cases, from Appalachia to the Miami suburbs, have revealed the tricks of an underground trade: Conspirators allegedly bought off absentee voters, faked absentee ballots, and bribed people heading to the polls to vote one way or another.”

Cummings isn’t interested in that sort of stuff. He’s interested only in going after True the Vote. Why? “At some point, an effort to challenge voter registrations by the thousands without any legitimate basis may be evidence of illegal voter suppression,” Cummings said by letter to True the Vote founder Catherine Engelbrecht last week. “If these efforts are intentional, politically motivated and widespread across multiple states, they could amount to a criminal conspiracy to deny legitimate voters their constitutional rights.”

There is no evidence of that at all. Not a shred. But the Los Angeles Times ran a story two weeks ago implying that True the Vote was attempting just that. Their evidence? Somebody trained by True the Vote in Ohio challenged the registrations of people whose residences were listed as commercial properties and dorm buildings with incorrect addresses – people, in other words, who can’t guarantee who they are.

Instead, Cummings is upset that Engelbrecht would train Americans to ensure poll veracity. So is California Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who tweeted, “I don’t believe this is ‘True the Vote.’ I believe it’s ‘Stop the Vote.’” She asked the Department of Justice to “protect Americans from voter intimidation … No group can be allowed to intimidate or interfere with this fundamental right that is essential for American democracy.” In other words, don’t purge voter rolls of improper voters. Leave it full of dead folks, people registered to homes that don’t exist, and the like.

How will the accomplish that? By attempting to intimidate poll volunteers – Americans who simply care about the integrity of the voting process. And by accusing them of racism, they not only slander them, they raise the chances of violence against those voting integrity volunteers. The Democrats had no problem whatsoever with the New Black Panthers standing outside polling places with billy clubs – but they have a problem with volunteers asking about whether empty addresses ought to have voters.

Breitbart News spoke with Engelbrecht about Cummings’ and Boxer’s attempts intimidate poll volunteers. “Rep. Cummings has no power to independently issue a subpoena,” Engelbrecht said. “But that didn’t stop him from leaking his letter to the same Los Angeles Times reporter who wrote the original story slandering us. Then Rep. Cummings went on Soledad O’Brien’s show on CNN and, just as Sen. Boxer had done the previous week all over MSNBC, he used his power of office to assault private citizens. Leaders on the left, including Soros funded organizations like Common Cause and DEMOS, are working overtime to discourage citizens from volunteering this election cycle; fear mongering to perpetuate the myth that they are somehow being victimized. Why? They are either trying to rally their base, trying to hide something, or both.

“We’ve trained tens of thousands of honest, hardworking Americans across the country who just want to work at the polls. They shouldn’t be afraid of volunteering in elections because the rhetoric has grown so heated that people show up ginning for a fight,” Engelbrecht told Breitbart News.

“Americans are better than this; we are tired of constantly being pitted against one another so that certain power bases can stay in business. We should all be able to come together around the idea of one person, one vote. Let the best man or woman win, but let it be fair. For Cummings and Boxer to intentionally provoke division among Americans is absurd and insulting.”
But Boxer and Cummings aren’t interested in true-ing the vote. They’re simply interested in stopping anyone who wants to.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Governm...-vote-Cummings

TRUE THE VOTE ON ELIJAH CUMMINGS: LIAR, BEARING FALSE WITNESS

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by BRANDON DARBY 4 Nov 2012 POST A COMMENT

True the Vote senior adviser and attorney, J. Christian Adams, had strong words for Democratic Congressional Rep. Elijah Cummings yesterday during a CNN segment. The interview, conducted by CNN’s Joe Johns, allowed both left-of-center and right-of-center advocates to voice their sides’ opinions on the controversies surround the issue of election integrity.



Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings repeated his allegation that True the Vote was trying to suppress minority votes. In response, True the Vote’s J. Christian Adams asserts that Rep. Cummings and his allies are “liars, they're bearing false witness against law abiding citizens who are doing no more than observing the process, and they should be ashamed of themselves.”

Rep. Cummings, who was recently delivered a cease and desist order from True the Vote for consistently making false allegations against the group after misrepresenting his powers as a congressional representative, asserted that “what the True the Vote is doing is criminal.”

J. Christian Adams also stated “True the Vote stands for free and fair elections, follow the law -- period” and "True the Vote will be everywhere."

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/11/04/True-the-Vote-on-Elijah-Cummings-Liar-Bearing-False-Witness-Should-Be-Ashamed

Originally Posted by Newmexican

Going back to 2012.

It is obvious to me that Cummings place on this committee has been to obstruct rather than investigate. It is like letting the fox sit in the henhouse.

------------------------------------



Issa: Rep. Cummings ‘Was Slandering Me’ During IRS Hearing Outburst



'I am a member of the Congress of the United States of America! I'm tired of this!' Democratic Rep. Elijah Cumming shouted after the Republican chairman adjourned Wednesday's committee hearing without listening to his statemen

Read the emails at the highlighted links in the text.
Bombshell: Emails Show Democrat on Oversight Committee was Working With Lois Lerner to Target True the Vote (Update: Engelbrecht Reacts)

Also read: Lois Lerner email shows that she wanted to work for OFA.
by
BRYAN PRESTON
Bio
April 9, 2014 - 2:43 pm

Emails released today by the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee show that Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) has some explaining to do. The emails show that Cummings and the IRS were asking for nearly identical information from election integrity watchdog True the Vote. Further, the emails show communication as Lerner was feeding information to Cummings and his staff.

The communication occurred in 2012, before the public was ever aware of the ongoing and widespread IRS abuse of Tea Party and conservative groups. In a press release detailing the newly delivered emails, committee Chairman Darrell Issa asks Cummings to answer for himself.

“Although you have previously denied that your staff made inquiries to the IRS about conservative organization True the Vote that may have led to additional agency scrutiny, communication records between your staff and IRS officials – which you did not disclose to Majority Members or staff – indicates otherwise,” wrote the Chairman and five Subcommittee Chairmen of the Oversight Committee. “As the Committee is scheduled to consider a resolution holding Ms. Lerner, a participant in responding to your communications that you failed to disclose, in contempt of Congress, you have an obligation to fully explain your staff’s undisclosed contacts with the IRS.”

Cummings has stonewalled the investigation throughout, while President Obama has claimed that there wasn’t even a “smidgen of corruption” in it.

The communication between Lerner and Cummings and his staff shows that the IRS and Cummings made numerous requests for virtually identical information from True the Vote, the Houston-based group dedicated to improving election integrity and rooting out election fraud. That Cummings and the IRS sought nearly identical information raises the strong probability of collusion between the government agency and the Democrats on the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee.

• Five days after Cummings contacted True the Vote seeking “copies of all training materials used for volunteers, affiliates, or other entities,” the IRS sent True the Vote a letter requesting True the Vote provide “a copy of [True the Vote’s] volunteer registration form,” “…the process you use to assign volunteers,” “how you keep your volunteers in teams,” and “how your volunteers are deployed … following the training they receive by you.”

• On or before January 25, 2013, Cummings’ staff requested more information from the IRS about True the Vote. The head of the IRS Legislative Affairs office e-mailed several IRS officials, including former Exempt Organizations Director Lois Lerner, that “House Oversight Committee Minority staff” sought information about True the Vote. On Monday, January 28, Lerner wrote to her deputy Holly Paz: “Did we find anything?” When Paz informed her minutes later that she had not heard back about True the Vote’s information, Lerner replied: “thanks – check tomorrow please.”

• On January 31, 2013, Paz attached True the Vote’s form 990s, which she authorized the IRS to share with the Minority staff. Neither Cummings nor the IRS shared these requested documents with the Oversight Majority. None of the Minority’s communications about True the Vote with the IRS were shared with the Committee Majority even though Ranking Member Cummings frequently complains about the Committee Majority contacting individuals on official matters without the involvement of Minority staff.

• Cummings denied that his staff, “might have been involved in putting True the Vote on the radar screen of some of these Federal agencies” at a February 6, 2014, Subcommittee hearing:

Ms. Mitchell: We want to get to the bottom of how these coincidences happened, and we’re going to try to figure out whether any – if there was any staff of this committee that might have been involved in putting True the Vote on the radar screen of some of these Federal agencies. We don’t know that, but we – we’re going to do everything we can do to try to get to the bottom of how did this all happen.

Mr. Cummings. Will the gentleman yield?
Mr. Meadows. Yes.

Mr. Cummings. I want to thank the gentleman for his courtesy. What she just said is absolutely incorrect and not true.

Did Rep. Cummings lie during the committee hearings?

Update: True the Vote president Catherine Engelbrecht reacts in a press statement:

“Elijah Cummings has blocked the IRS abuse investigation all along. We now see clearly that two branches of government have colluded to target and silence private citizens.

“America has come to a tipping point,” Engelbrecht said. “No more lies. No more cover-ups. No more collusion. Enough is enough. Finally, we have a chance for the rule of law to be re-established, thanks to the bold efforts of Chairman Issa and Rep. Jordan.”

Engelbrecht added, “We filed an ethics complaint against Rep. Cummings in February. Today we’re amending that filing to include this latest revelation. As I have said in my testimony before Congress; I will not retreat, I will not surrender, I will not be intimidated. I will not ask Rep. Cummings, Lois Lerner, Barack Obama, or anyone else, for permission to exercise my constitutional rights.”

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2014/04/09...true-the-vote/

It is obvious to me that Cummings place on this committee has been to obstruct rather than investigate. It is like letting the fox sit in the henhouse.

Ahem brother, Cummings was the main actor to stall and confuse, from the beginning like Al Sharpton he plays the victim role with true actor ability sadly the media and left love it.

BREAKING: Emails Show Lois Lerner Fed True the Vote Tax Information to Democrat Elijah Cummings

Katie Pavlich | Apr 09, 2014




New IRS emails released by the House Oversight Committee show staff working for Democratic Ranking Member Elijah Cummings communicated with the IRS multiple times between 2012 and 2013 about voter fraud prevention group True the Vote. True the Vote was targeted by the IRS after applying for tax exempt status more than two years ago. Further, information shows the IRS and Cummings' staff asked for nearly identical information from True the Vote President Catherine Engelbrecht about her organization, indicating coordination and improper sharing of confidential taxpayer information.

Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell Issa, along with five Subcommittee Chairmen are demanding Cummings provide an explanation for the staff inquiries to the IRS about True the Vote and for his denial that his staff ever contacted the IRS about the group.

“Although you have previously denied that your staff made inquiries to the IRS about conservative organization True the Vote that may have led to additional agency scrutiny, communication records between your staff and IRS officials – which you did not disclose to Majority Members or staff – indicates otherwise,” the letter to Cummings states. “As the Committee is scheduled to consider a resolution holding Ms. Lerner, a participant in responding to your communications that you failed to disclose, in contempt of Congress, you have an obligation to fully explain your staff’s undisclosed contacts with the IRS.”

The first contact between the IRS and Cummings' staffers about True the Vote happened in August 2012. In January 2013, staff asked for more information from the IRS about the group. Former head of tax exempt groups at the IRS Lois Lerner went out of her way to try and get information to Cummings' office.The information Cummings received was not shared with Majority Members on the Committee.

On January 28, three days after staffers requested more information, Lerner wrote an email to her deputy Holly Paz, who has since been put on administrative leave, asking, “Did we find anything?” Paz responded immediately by saying information had not been found yet, to which Lerner replied, “Thanks, check tomorrow please.”

On January 31, Paz sent True the Vote's 990 forms to Cumming's staff.
Up until this point, Rep. Cummings has denied his staff ever contacted the IRS about True the Vote and their activities during Oversight hearings. In fact, on February 6, 2014 during a Subcommittee hearing where Engelbrecht testified, Cummings vehemently denied having any contact or coordination in targeting True the Vote when attorney Cleta Mitchell, who is representing the group, indicated staff on the Committee had been involved in communication with the IRS. This was the exchange:

Ms. Mitchell: We want to get to the bottom of how these coincidences happened, and we’re going to try to figure out whether any – if there was any staff of this committee that might have been involved in putting True the Vote on the radar screen of some of these Federal agencies. We don’t know that, but we – we’re going to do everything we can do to try to get to the bottom of how did this all happen.

Mr. Cummings. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. Meadows. Yes.

Mr. Cummings. I want to thank the gentleman for his courtesy. What she just said is absolutely incorrect and not true.

After the hearing, Engelbrecht filed an ethics complaint against Cummings for his targeting and intimidation of her organization.

Rep. Cummings has described the investigation into IRS targeting of conservative groups as a "witch hunt," and has tried multiple times to put the investigation on hold.

"These documents, indicating involvement of IRS officials at the center of the targeting scandal responding to your requests, raise serious questions about your actions and motivations for trying to bring this investigation to a premature end. If the Committee, as you publicly suggested in June 2013,'wrap[ped] this case up and moved on' at that time, the Committee may have never seen documents raising questions about your possible coordination with the IRS in communications that excluded the Committee Majority," the letter sent by Issa and the Chairmen further states. "As the Committee continues to investigate the IRS's wrongdoing and to gather all relevant testimonial and documentary evidence, the American people deserve to know the full truth.

They deserve to know why the Ranking Member and Minority staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform surreptitiously contacted the IRS about an individual organization without informing the Majority Staff and even failed to disclose the contact after it became an issue during a subcommittee proceeding...We ask that you explain the full extent of you and your staff's communications with the IRS and why you chose to keep communications with the IRS from Majority Members and staff even after it became a subject of controversy."

The House Oversight Committee will vote tomorrow about whether to hold Lerner in contempt of Congress.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepa...mings-n1822247