DIARY \/ STEVE BERMAN
\nredstate.com<\/p>\n
The IRSgate scandal has entered a new phase.\u00a0 We are no longer thinking in terms of abuse of power, although that allegation certainly has an abundance of evidence already.\u00a0 Now we\u2019re talking about some real coverup crimes; actual felonies with jail time.\u00a0 Those involved with the IRS coverup have known this from the beginning. \u00a0 Congress must appoint a Special Prosecutor.<\/p>\n
Lerner is a lawyer, and she\u00a0began her career<\/a>\u00a0as a staff attorney at the Department of Justice\u2019s criminal division, then moving on to the Federal Election Commission and served there as head of the enforcement division.\u00a0 She knew exactly what she was doing when she repeatedly asserted her Fifth Amendment rights at Congressional hearings.<\/p>\n Try looking at this from a prosecutor\u2019s viewpoint.\u00a0 Allegations of abuse of government power for political purposes are made, and the central figure in the case consistently asserts self-incrimination protection.\u00a0 Then, when additional evidence is subpoenaed, it\u2019s found that the organization employing the figure has lost critical evidence.\u00a0 It smacks of something called obstruction of justice.<\/p>\n The IRS points to a\u00a0policy<\/a>\u00a0claiming that<\/p>\n IRS policy requires employees to determine for themselves whether their e-mails constitute a record under the Federal Records Act. If so, \u201cthe email must be printed and placed in the appropriate file by the employee,\u201d according to a letter to Congress from Leonard Oursler, the IRS\u2019 director of legislative affairs. It\u2019s unclear whether Lerner did so.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So, at a minimum, Lerner probably violated the Federal Records Act, although proving this is going to require some serious forensics.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a more effective route.\u00a0 Starting with 18 USC \u00a7 1510, Obstruction of criminal investigations, and applying 18 USC \u00a7 371, Conspiracy, a prosecutor just works his or her way down the chain, everyone who ever handled Lerner\u2019s computer, worked on it, performed the backups, erased the tapes, and keeps going until someone cracks.\u00a0 Offer that person immunity to testify, and you can begin rolling up the gang.\u00a0 This is not a new strategy, it\u2019s been used against criminal enterprises for decades.\u00a0 Lerner has to be intimately familiar with it, and she\u2019s keeping her options open, regardless of offers of protection and support from the White House (who can trust them to follow through when the heat turns up?).<\/p>\n This is why a Special Prosecutor is called for.\u00a0 Even Government Executive\u2019s website\u00a0agrees<\/a>\u00a0with this.<\/p>\n Nothing has changed. The White House is stonewalling the IRS investigation. The most benign explanation is that Obama\u2019s team is politically expedient and arrogant, which makes them desperate to change the subject and convinced of their institutional innocence. That\u2019s bad enough. But without a fiercely independent investigation, we shouldn\u2019t assume the explanation is benign.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Congress has a responsibility to the citizens they represent to pursue this matter wherever it leads.\u00a0 Whether Republican or Democrat, the principles of government for the people, of the people, and by the people demand an answer.\u00a0 It\u2019s time for a Special Prosecutor.<\/p>\n