Former IRS official Lois Lerner wants her testimony on the Tea Party targeting scandal to be kept from the public's eyes. She fears for her life, both she and her deputy Holly Paz claimed in a motion filed last Thursday.
“Whenever Mss. Lerner and Paz have been in the media spotlight, they have faced death threats and harassment,” the documents stated. “Returning Mss. Lerner and Paz to the media spotlight places them at risk, regardless of what they actually said in those depositions.”
The documents also stated that: “Public exposure will put innocent bystanders, namely Mss. Lerner’s and Paz’s family members (including young children), at risk, too.” (Fox News)
In particular, Lerner pointed fingers at Mark Meckler, President of Citizens for Self Governance, for warning her that the lawsuit would "treat the IRS like the criminal thugs they are.” Comments like that, she claimed, have created an environment that allows death threats to fester.
In an interview with Fox News, Meckler, who is also a co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, said he “doesn’t believe” Lerner is fearing for her life and suggested she is trying to escape accountability.
“The implication is really outrageous,” he said. “That what she said in that deposition about Tea Partiers is so bad that people will be outraged.”
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“The American people have a right to know,” Meckler said.
The little we do know is that for two years the IRS subjected conservative groups to extra scrutiny when applying for tax exempt status.
Under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the agency is beginning to make amends for its wrongdoing. Sessions announced last month that they had reached two settlements with right-leaning groups who were targeted by the Obama administration.
While Meckler denies being the cause of Lerner’s death threats, he notes that he of course “doesn’t support harassment against anybody – even government officials.”
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