{"id":9103,"date":"2014-06-20T16:19:52","date_gmt":"2014-06-20T16:19:52","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2014-06-20T16:19:52","modified_gmt":"2014-06-20T16:19:52","slug":"fireworks_at_irs_hearing_on_capitol_hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2014\/06\/20\/fireworks_at_irs_hearing_on_capitol_hill\/","title":{"rendered":"Fireworks at IRS Hearing on Capitol Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Listen<\/a><\/p>\n

RUSH: There were fireworks today up on Capitol Hill. But I don\u2019t think it\u2019s gonna matter. I just don\u2019t think it\u2019s gonna matter. They had the IRS commissioner up there by the name of John Koskinen, and this guy was arrogant and brazen and, “Screw you!” Both with his tone and his facial expressions, he was sending the message, “Look I don\u2019t care about what you think. <\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t even really need or want to be here outside of being polite and accepting your invitation, but screw you!” That\u2019s basically what it was. This segment was about the missing e-mails, the lost e-mails, the recycled server, the crashed hard drive. Paul Ryan was incredulous at some of the answers. Paul Ryan was incredulous that John Koskinen didn\u2019t apologize. <\/p>\n

<\/a>So when Koskinen came under some heated questioning by Dave Camp and Paul Ryan, the Democrats on the committee circled the wagons and apologized to him<\/a> — to Koskinen for the way he was being treated! I don\u2019t recall them ever apologizing to Sam Alito, or Alito\u2019s wife for the way he was treated. I don\u2019t remember anybody ever apologizing to Robert Bork.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t remember anybody ever apologizing to Clarence Thomas. Let\u2019s go straight to the audio sound bites. After his opening statement, Dave Camp, who is the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee (and that\u2019s the committee doing the hearing today), started asking for an apology from the IRS commissioner John Koskinen, and Koskinen said, “What am I apologizing to you for? <\/p>\n

“I gave you the e-mails that we have,” but they claim the important ones are gone. But Koskinen said, “What the hell? Apologize to you? A bunch of conservatives? No way!” So here\u2019s what Camp, who\u2019s from Michigan, said: “What I didn\u2019t hear you say, Commissioner Koskinen, was an apology to this committee.”<\/p>\n

KOSKINEN: I don\u2019t think an apology is owed! There\u2019s not a single e-mail that has been lost since the start of this investigation. Every e-mail has been preserved that we have.<\/line><\/p>\n

CAMP: You don\u2019t think that time period between January 2009 and April 2011 is relevant to this investigation?<\/p>\n

KOSKINEN: It is a very relevant time frame.<\/p>\n

CAMP: All right. I\u2019m told that the IRS knew as early as February that her computer crash supposedly caused the loss of her e-mails during the time period of January 2009-2011. Has the IRS known since February?<\/p>\n

KOSKINEN: Uh, the IRS (ahem) knew in February there was an issue. As noted we all had e-mails from Ms. Lerner last fall in which she recited she had had a hard drive crash.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Ohhh, “We\u2019ve all had e-mails from her in which she recited…” How many of you “recite” in an e-mail? “…in which she recited that she had had a hard drive crash,” and everybody just went, “Oh, okay. Ho-hum. A hard drive cash<\/a>.” Lois Lerner is only the target. Lois Lerner is only the face of this scandal. And I might say, very… (sigh) I\u2019ve always thought the woman is mean, just looking at her. But that\u2019s just me. <\/p>\n

I know we\u2019re not supposed to judge people on their appearance. By that I mean social ideological orientation or intention. But I\u2019m telling you, you can do it, folks. I can, anyway. Anyway, she doesn\u2019t look like a nice woman. So she\u2019s telling everybody, “Oh, you know what? My hard drive crashed!” Everybody laughs. “Gee, okay. Cool. We\u2019ll see at 5:00 at the Old Ebbitt for adult beverages.” <\/p>\n

The Old Ebbitt Grill is across from the White House. If you\u2019re invited to have dinner at the White House, stop at the Old Ebbitt Grill first to eat because you won\u2019t at the White House. Anyway, her hard drive crash is treated as, “Yeah, you know, I lost my makeup. I lost my compact and I can\u2019t go to cocktails today.” “Oh, that\u2019s too bad. Well, maybe next week.”<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when she “recited” she\u2019d had a hard drive crash. This guy Koskinen, the commissioner of the IRS, was confronted with the lies that have come out of an agency repeatedly. Kevin Brady, Republican from Texas, said, “Mr. Commissioner, you did not tell me under oath that you told us in February and March and April and May that the information was lost. That is what just what you said. Tell us again.”<\/p>\n

KOSKINEN: February, March and until April I did not know if any information was lost.<\/p>\n

BRADY: Yet your agency had already in April communicated with Treasury department about the problem, and the letter we have from Treasury, says, “We agreed with the IRS that it should inform Congress as soon as it is able.” That is the letter today that exactly disputes what just told us under oath. This is the most corrupt —<\/p>\n

DEMOCRATS: (grumbling)<\/p>\n

BRADY: — and deceitful IRS —<\/p>\n

KOSKINEN: (cough)<\/p>\n

BRADY: — in history.<\/p>\n

RUSH: The Republicans were firing today. Would you not agree, Snerdley? The Republicans were firing both barrels. The point of this is, in the previous sound bite, Koskinen says, “Oh, yeah. We knew in February there was an issue. We all have e-mails of Ms. Lerner last fall in which they recited she had a hard drive crash.” It was back in 2009, and they only told them last week.<\/line><\/p>\n

Anyway, so Brady here is saying, “February, March, April, you didn\u2019t know if any information was lost? You heard from her that her hard drive crashed but you didn\u2019t know if any information was lost and you didn\u2019t seem to care that any information might be lost, even after you\u2019d been told that her hard drive crashed a couple years prior?” That\u2019s what Brady was saying. <\/p>\n

“Yet your agency had already in April communicated with Treasury department about the problem. And the letter we have from Treasury, says, ‘We agreed with the IRS that it should inform Congress as soon as it is able.\u2019 That is the letter today that exactly disputes what just told us under oath.”<\/p>\n

Because the letter says, “Oh, yeah. We knew we should have passed it on,” but he just said, “No, we didn\u2019t find out about it until way after.” Brady said it\u2019s “the most corrupt, deceitful IRS in history,” which caused John Lewis, Democrat-Georgia to, wake up.<\/p>\n

LEWIS: Mr. Commissioner, I want to thank you for your service, thank you for your patient (sic), and I want to apologize to you for the way you\u2019ve been treated this morning. I thought this was a hearing and not a trial.<\/line><\/p>\n

RUSH: Right. The Democrats were apologizing to this guy left and right. Up next is Paul Ryan and here, I think it\u2019s safe to say, he encapsulates why the country is so outraged by this scandal.<\/p>\n