Sen. Whitehouse Attempts to Weaponize IRS Against Conservative Non-profit Groups
Radical Leftists Including Socialist Bernie Sanders Want to Direct the 87,000 New IRS Agents Against Conservatives
The Daily Signal (dailysignal.com) has exclusively reported that Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI, has demanded in a series of letters to the Internal Revenue Service that the IRS collaborate with the federal Department of Justice in cracking down on conservative groups and potentially removing their tax exempt status. In one example, Whitehouse called for an investigation and potential penalties for conservative group Turning Point USA because members allegedly failed to mask up and social distance at an event during the pandemic.
Read the full account from The Daily Signal here.
Whitehouse long has been a critic of conservative, nonprofit organizations and uses an expansive definition of “dark money” groups, broadly defined as tax-exempt organizations that don’t disclose donors.
“What’s important about these letters is it makes it very clear that a U.S. senator is attempting to essentially encourage the IRS to investigate his political opponents,” said Tom Jones, president and founder of the American Accountability Foundation, a conservative watchdog group.
“I request that IRS and DOJ together brief my office on this matter,” Whitehouse wrote to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and Attorney General Merrick Garland. “I request both Commissioner Rettig and Attorney General Garland to clarify the referral policy between IRS and DOJ so that well-predicated investigations do not constantly fall between the infielders.”
“It’s simply wrong, an abuse of his position,” Jones said. “Thankfully, the IRS hasn’t indulged in what Whitehouse is asking them to do, but you have to remain vigilant. He is a United States senator, close with the [Biden] White House.”
“At some point, the dam could break on this and conservative nonprofits could get a knock on their door from IRS agents because a U.S. senator wants them to investigate his political opponents.”
Days after Senate passage of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which added 87,000 new IRS agents, Whitehouse joined Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to urge Rettig to take immediate action.
