The IRS scandal continues to grow. Testimony before Congress today revealed that the head of the IRS division overseeing the types of non-profits which were political opponent groups targeted by the IRS, Lois Lerner, directly sent letters to political opponent groups. This proves the administration's claims that it was a few rogue employees at an IRS office in Ohio is completely false. Two other groups testified that they also received letters from Lerner.
The trail keeps getting closer and closer to the White House. At least now we understand why Lerner pled the 5th.
But it doesn't end there. One Congressman tried to blame the victim for what happened. But listen to the reaction from the gallery when that Congressman was called out for his behavior. While complaining about the behavior of conservative groups, liberal groups were left alone. Then there is the political activity of Obama's own Organizing for America. It's likely that the administration gave out private IRS information to political groups so it could be used against Romney during the campaign. Private businesses unaffiliated with the non-profit groups being targeted were also investigated by multiple other federal agencies, when the only connection between the business and the non-profit is the person who is running both.
And there's also the news that Obama campaign staffer Stephanie Cutter, a political strategist, was in meetings with the head of the IRS, Douglas Shulman. The IRS is intended to be an independent agency, removed from the influence of politics. What was a political strategist doing in those meetings? We know the IRS was being used for political purposes, was there something else going on in those meetings we need to know about?
The problems for this administration on just this scandal continue to grow.