CONFIRMED: IRS Scandal Tied Directly to Obama Campaign

Guest post by Investors Business Daily


Scandal: The president's deputy campaign manager attended the "nonpolitical" ObamaCare implementation meetings with the former IRS commissioner at the White House. She wasn't there to discuss the Easter Egg Roll.

A clue as to whether the targeting by the IRS of Tea Party and other conservative groups was discussed at the 157 meetings that former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman had at the White House may be found in remarks by Stephanie Cutter, deputy manager for President Obama's 2012 reelection campaign, in a recent appearance on Jake Tapper's show "The Lead" on CNN.

As reported by Gateway Pundit, Cutter attempted to dismiss charges they were political meetings but admitted she had attended meetings with Shulman at the White House. "I was in them with him," Cutter said. "So there was nothing nefarious going on."

Well, if they were not political meetings, why was she there at all? Was she there to offer her health care or tax code expertise?

Cutter became Obama's deputy campaign manager in September 2011. Shulman, a Democratic donor, was IRS commissioner from March 24, 2008, to November 9, 2012. Cutter was an Obama attack dog during the 2012 campaign.

When she appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation" to defend the president's new campaign slogan "Romnesia," she went on to say that Republican nominee Mitt Romney was "severely conservative" and had run as the "ideal" Tea Party candidate. She said this as she was sitting in meetings with the head of an IRS that was charged with implementation of ObamaCare as it was targeting groups that were created to oppose ObamaCare.

Though she denies it, Cutter was also deeply involved in the ads run by the pro-Obama super-PAC Priorities USA in which steelworker Joe Soptic recounted how his wife died of cancer after he lost his health insurance when his plant was shuttered after a takeover by Bain Capital and other companies working with Romney's private equity firm.
Cutter appeared on CNN in August 2012 to say, among other things, that "I don't know the facts" about the Soptic case, something she had to say since coordination between political campaigns and such issue-oriented groups is illegal. She lied.

In May 2012, Cutter herself hosted a conference call in which Soptic detailed his case to reporters.

During the call, as he did in the ad, Soptic explained how his wife fell ill after he lost his job, and how he lost his health insurance. The call took place as Soptic began appearing in Obama campaign ads and was profiled on the Obama campaign website.

Cutter was not only on the call, she also introduced Soptic and wrapped up his testimony. And as to any campaign coordination, Rush Limbaugh and others have noted that Soptic is apparently wearing the same shirt for campaign ads of both the Priorities USA and Obama For America, Obama's 2012 campaign organization, that were allegedly taped months apart.

Priorities USA is self-described as a social welfare 501(c)4 and is not required to disclose individuals, corporations or union organizations that have donated in an effort to affect the 2012 election.

It's no different from Crossroads GPS, the Karl Rove-affiliated group that Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin asked Shulman in a letter to investigate. Yet it escaped the "special scrutiny" the IRS reserved for targeted Tea Party groups.

Cutter should be called to testify under oath before the House Oversight Committee to explain why a key Obama campaign operative was in on meetings to discuss ObamaCare implementation with an IRS official whose agency was targeting groups opposed to it.


Provided by: Investors Business Daily.