President Obama told Fox News' Bill O'Reilly that the recent IRS targeting scandal had "not even a smidgen of corruption." The denial-laden interview on Sunday leaves the Thomas More Society shocked, as the President adamantly rejected the suggestion that the IRS was abusing groups not in concert with his administration. He claimed that IRS officials were confused about how to implement laws governing tax-exempt groups. The Thomas More Society, however, a national public interest law firm based in Chicago, was heavily involved in providing Congress with evidence of specific wrongdoing on the part of Lois Lerner - disgraced former IRS director of the exempt organizations division - and her staff.
"Thomas More Society has defended six pro-life organizations whose First Amendment rights were trampled upon by the IRS because of the groups' dedication to the sanctity of life," said Peter Breen, vice president and senior counsel of the Thomas More Society. "In fact, in May and August of 2013, Thomas More Society produced two memos to the House Committee on Ways and Means, totaling over 500 pages of evidence that the IRS specifically targeted and harassed pro-life and conservative charities, illegally questioning their religious activities and withholding their tax exemptions. Frankly, we are shocked that President Obama would state that there was 'not even a smidgeon of corruption' involved in the IRS scandal. The Obama Administration must stop making excuses to cover up the IRS' illegal activity and instead deal justly with the corruption and scandal that occurred."
The following links record the Thomas More Society exposure of the IRS pro-life discrimination scandal:
- Broadening IRS Victims Include Pro-Life Advocates, As Congress Investigates
- Congress Receives Irrefutable Evidence of IRS Harassment of Pro-Life Organizations
- IRS Pro-Life Victim Testified Before Ways and Means Committee Today "So It Won't Happen to Others"
- IRS Harassment of Pro-Life Groups Continues Despite Claims to Contrary
