Contact: Jill Farrell, Judicial Watch, 202-646-5188
WASHINGTON, Dec. 9, 2014 /Standard Newswire/ -- Judicial Watch today released internal Department of Justice (DOJ) documents revealing that former IRS official Lois Lerner had been in contact with DOJ officials about the possible criminal prosecution of tax-exempt entities two full years before what the IRS conceded was its "absolutely inappropriate" 2012 targeting of the organizations. According to the newly obtained documents, Lerner met with top Obama DOJ Election Crimes Branch officials as early as October 2010.
The new documents were obtained through a Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against the DOJ on July 21, 2014 (Judicial Watch v. Department of Justice (No. 14-cv-01239)), after the agency failed to respond to an April 21, 2014, FOIA request seeking:
Any and all records concerning meetings and/or communications between the Department of Justice Criminal Division Public Integrity Section and the Internal Revenue Service Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division, the White House, Members of Congress and/or congressional staff, and any non-government entity, regarding 501(c)(4) or other tax-exempt organizations.
As result of a court order, the DOJ last month produced only two pages of heavily redacted emails (832 pages were withheld in entirety) that show the Obama Justice Department initiated an October 8, 2010, meeting between the IRS and top criminal prosecutors at the DOJ Public Integrity Section and Election Crimes Division "concerning 501(c)(4) issues."
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