No Criminal Charges for Former IRS Official Lois Lerner
The Justice Department won’t charge Lois Lerner, a former Internal Revenue Service official, over Tea Party groups’ applications for tax-exempt status, closing a nearly 2 1/2-year investigation with a determination that IRS officials bungled the matter but committed no crimes.
“Our investigation uncovered substantial evidence of mismanagement, poor judgment and institutional inertia, leading to the belief by many tax-exempt applicants that the IRS targeted them based on their political viewpoints,” Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik wrote to Congress on Friday. “But poor management is not a crime.”
The announcement ends a major phase of the IRS controversy, angering Republicans and Tea Party activists who had pressed for prosecutions.
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When the matter first erupted, it prompted bipartisan outrage and accusations that the IRS and Obama administration had pursued a vendetta against conservative groups. The truth proved to be more complex, and the investigations appear not to have revealed any direct involvement by White House officials.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee who is poised to become speaker of the House, said the Justice Department’s decision was a “deeply disappointing” response to what he called the “serious and unprecedented actions” taken by Ms. Lerner. (Read more from “No Criminal Charges for Former IRS Official Lois Lerner” HERE)
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