AP Exclusive: IRS knew tea party targeted in 2011
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
Associated Press /
May 11, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senior Internal Revenue
Service officials knew agents were targeting tea party groups as early
as 2011, according to a draft of an inspector general’s report obtained
by The Associated Press that seemingly contradicts public statements by
the IRS commissioner.
The IRS apologized Friday for what it
acknowledged was ‘‘inappropriate’’ targeting of conservative political
groups during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their
tax-exempt status. The agency blamed low-level employees, saying no
high-level officials were aware.
But on June 29, 2011, Lois G. Lerner, who
heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt organizations, learned
at a meeting that groups were being targeted, according to the
watchdog’s report. At the meeting, she was told that groups with ‘‘Tea
Party,’’ ‘'Patriot’’ or ‘‘9/12 Project’’ in their names were being
flagged for additional and often burdensome scrutiny, the report says.
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