KRAMER’S NOTE:  This is Part 2 of my effort to provide you with the background leading to the scandal in the IRS.  If you missed Part 1, you can read it by scrolling down or by checking “Recent Posts” in the right hand column.

                                                       Democrats Intimidate the IRS

President Obama scolded the Supreme Court justices for their decision on Citizens United and asked Congress to “right this wrong,” but to Republicans the Court already righted a wrong.  It didn’t take long, however, for the Democrats to begin pressing the IRS to clamp down on Tea Party organizations and other conservative groups.

Democrat Senators Baucus, Schumer and Franken and others wrote to the IRS, threatening legislative action if they failed to “prevent abuse of the tax code by political groups.”

The groups began to complain to their Congressmen that their requests for tax exempt status were being delayed and they were being put through hoops with unwarranted paperwork.

Unexpectedly, on March 7, 2012, the liberal New York Times published an editorial, “The I.R.S. Does it Job,” reporting that “Tea Party supporters claim they are being politically harassed with extensive I.R.S. questionnaires.”  Does anyone believe the president didn’t see this editorial?

But it wasn’t until May 10, 2013, as the result of an IRS IG report, that the IRS’ Lois Lerner planted a question during her telephone conference to provide cover for her organization blaming a few over-zealous rogue employees in the Cincinnati office for the approval delays.

Three days later, presidential spokeskid Jay Carney disavowed any prior knowledge of the IG report even though the White House counsel was informed on April 22, 2013  We are to believe no one told the president about the report.

This is the same president who, on May 5, 2013, during a speech at the Ohio State University, had the audacity to tell students to reject the voice that “warn that tyranny (is) always lurking just around the corner.”

During testimony before the House on May 21, 2013 IRS Director Douglas Shulman revealed that he had visited the White House more than 150 times; meetings we are led to believe only concerned planning for the agency’s work on ObamaCare enforcement.  I’d like to know why the president’s deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter attended some of those meetings.

Of course, most of you know that Lerner took the Fifth Amendment and refused to testify on May 22, 2013, but proceeded to tell House members, “ I have done nothing wrong … I have not broken any laws … I have not violated any IRS rules or regulations … and I have not provided false information to this or any other congressional committee.”

“You don’t get to tell your side of the story and then not be subjected to cross-examination.  That’s not the way it works.  She ought to to stand here and answer our questions,” exclaimed Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), but to no avail.

The House committee did hear from a number of individuals who were harassed by the IRS, including Catherine Engelbrecht of Houston, who was prey for audits by the IRS, FBI ATF and even OSHA after filing for tax exempt status for her organization, True the Vote.   Engelbrecht’s attorney Cleta Mitchell later said, “Clearly she (Lerner) was involved in it, she knew about it, she has an agenda, as do others in the IRS.”

NEXT:  The IRS Continues Harassment as Additional Facts Surface.