Earlier this year, it was revealed that the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had specifically targeted conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status. In the process of trying to obtain 501(c)(4) status, a large number of Tea Party groups received lengthy delays and excessive questioning from the IRS.
Most of the targeted conservative groups had the words “Tea Party” in their names.
Lois Lerner, director of tax exempt organizations for the IRS, even admitted that such targeting had happened. Lerner said, “They did pick the cases by names and that’s absolutely inappropriate and not the way we should do things.”
Despite this admission, President Obama denied that the IRS scandal ever happened this Thursday during his interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews. The President insisted that the “scandal” was merely nonsense created by the media.
He said:
“If on the other hand, you’ve got an office in Cincinnati, an IRS office, that I think for bureaucratic reasons, is trying to sreamline a difficult law to begin with, and interpret whether a non-profit is a political organization, deserves a tax exempt agenc, ant they’ve got a list. Suddenly, everyone’s outraged… And, I’ll point out that there are some so-called progressives and perceived to be liberal commentators during that week that were just outraged at the possibility that these folks had in some way been discriminated against. And, that is what gets news.”
Source: by Kristin Tate, Ben Swann