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Washington Examiner: Acting IGs at State Dept., National Archives ignored looming Clinton email scandal

June 3, 2015 by

Read the full story: Washington Examiner

A years-long vacancy in the State Department’s Office of inspector general allowed Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email account and server to hide her public records to continue unchecked, experts told a Senate committee Wednesday.  Daniel Epstein, president of nonpartisan watchdog Cause of Action, pointed to another empty inspector general office — this one in the National Archives and Records Administration — as a potential cause of the breakdown in transparency that occurred during Clinton’s tenure at the State Department.

James Springs, who now serves as the National Archives’ permanent inspector general, oversaw the agency in an interim capacity from September 2012 until March of this year.

That means the watchdog position was effectively empty as Clinton made her transition out of the State Department.  Top Archives officials were concerned at the time that Clinton might attempt to leave the State Department with her records and bring them to the Clinton Library in Arkansas, internal emails obtained by Cause of Action show.

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Washington Examiner: Cause of Action presses IRS on taxpayer data shared with White House

February 25, 2015 by

Read the full story: Washington Examiner 

A government watchdog group fired another shot in its legal battle to obtain records of the unauthorized disclosure of taxpayer information to White House officials when it filed a motion late Tuesday against the IRS inspector general. Cause of Action, a nonprofit oversight group, pressed the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration on why it had cited a law written to protect taxpayers against the government in an attempt to instead protect the government against the taxpayers’ inquiry.

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TIGTA Undermines Taxpayer Privacy

February 24, 2015 by

Cause of Action is asking a federal court to grant its motion for summary judgment against the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).

Cause of Action is seeking enforcement of a prior court order requiring the government to produce records relating to the unauthorized disclosure of taxpayer information to unauthorized White House officials.

Earlier this month, after being forced to admit that it had investigated unauthorized White House access, TIGTA asked the court to allow it to withhold documents under Section 6103 of the tax code. However, section 6103 is meant to protect taxpayers, not the government.

Dan Epstein, Executive Director of Cause of Action, released the following statement:

“Section 6103 was passed to stop White House and other officials from obtaining the tax return information of government critics and political opponents. TIGTA, however, has asked the Court to make the unprecedented ruling that the taxpayer protection law actually shields the identities of the government lawbreakers who requested or obtained tax data without proper authorization. Such a ruling would be both bad law and bad policy. Congress never intended such a thing when it passed the law. And, such a ruling will limit government accountability and encourage future abuse.”

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The Daily Caller: THOUSANDS OF DOCUMENTS: IRS Gave Taxpayer Information To White House

December 1, 2014 by

Read the full story: The Daily Caller

The legal advocacy firm Cause of Action sued the Treasury Department’s inspector general for information about further IRS coordination with the White House. The long-stonewalled lawsuit has finally borne fruit.

 

“[T]he Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) informed Cause of Action that there exist nearly 2,500 potentially responsive documents relating to investigations of improper disclosures of confidential taxpayer information by the IRS to the White House,” Cause of Action stated.

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Forbes: In ‘Lost’ Trove Of IRS Emails, 2,500 May Link White House To Confidential Taxpayer Data

December 1, 2014 by

Read the full story: Forbes

The Inspector General for Tax Administration has seemed to be a white knight in the sometimes tawdry (and often inflammatory) email and targeting scandal that has roiled the IRS over 18 months. Yet on this particular issue, the Inspector General is being questioned too. An advocacy group called Cause of Action sued the Inspector General under the Freedom of Information Act for information about communications between the White House and the IRS.

 

Eventually, the court ordered that office to reveal whether the documents existed. Finally, the Obama administration has agreed to release the documents. A key question is whether any officials at the White House have ever asked anyone over at the IRS to transmit private taxpayer information to the White House in violation of law. Another question, regardless of whether the White House asked for any taxpayer information, is whether the IRS ever transmitted any.

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Washington Times: IRS accused of sharing 2,500 private taxpayer documents with White House

December 1, 2014 by

Read the full story: Washington Times

The suit, filed against Treasury’s inspector general by Cause of Action, a legal advocacy outfit, reveals a steady stream of communication went on between the White House and the IRS — a potentially “improper” stream, the group alleged, The Daily Caller reported.

 

“[T]he Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration informed Cause of Action that there exist nearly 2,500 potentially confidential documents relating to investigations of improper disclosures of confidential taxpayer information by the IRS to the White House,” Cause of Action told The Daily Caller.

 

The Justice Department has requested more time to review the documents before making them public, Newsmax said.

 

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FEC IG Report Leaves Weintraub Unchecked

August 20, 2019 by

In February 2017, Cause of Action Institute asked the Inspector General (“IG”) for the Federal Election Commission (“FEC”) to look into statements made by Commissioner Ellen Weintraub.  We recently obtained a copy of the IG’s report on the issue, clearing Commissioner Weintraub of wrongdoing. Learn More

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