Statement by Senator John McCain on False Reports on IRS Targeting

Press Release

U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) today released the following statement on false reports claiming that his office was somehow involved in IRS targeting of conservative groups:

"A recent press release by Judicial Watch sparked a series of online reports falsely claiming that my office was somehow involved in the IRS's targeting of conservative groups -- reports that are demonstrably untrue and totally contradicted by my all of my actions over the past several years on this issue.

"These reports ignore the fact that I released a 37-page dissenting report last September refuting the Democrats' Majority Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) report claiming the IRS showed no bias against conservative groups. Media coverage at the time noted that I was in total disagreement with Senate Democrats on the issue of whether the IRS targeted conservative groups (see The Associated Press article below headlined "Competing views on IRS treatment of tea party").

"At that time, I released this statement along with my dissenting report:

"The Majority's interpretation of the evidence fails to capture the extent of the IRS's bias against conservative groups and flagrant abuse of power. Our tax system should not -- and cannot -- be used as a weapon to target political opponents, as the IRS has clearly done, especially when that agency is, at times, tasked with administering laws that involve political free speech. This troubling scandal raises serious concern about the integrity of our nation's tax collectors and requires further investigation as damaging facts continue to come to light.'

"Starting in March 2012, almost a year before I assumed the role of Ranking Member of PSI, then-PSI Chairman Senator Carl Levin sent a series of letters to the IRS inquiring about the process for reviewing 501(c)4 "social welfare' organizations and alleging that some were engaging in political activities not permitted under that tax-exempt status. I did not sign onto any of those letters, both before and after I took over as Ranking Member of PSI in January 2013.

"As Chairman of PSI, Senator Levin initiated an investigation of IRS practices and policies related to tax-exempt organizations. Consistent with longtime PSI practices, interviews conducted in the course of this review, including the one with IRS Office of Exempt Organizations Director Lois Lerner in April 2013, were attended by both Levin and McCain PSI staff, to ensure that both Republican and Democrat staff had equal access to witnesses and relevant information.

"After the extent of IRS targeting of conservative groups was revealed, I called for Lois Lerner to be fired. And in a joint letter with Senator Levin calling for Ms. Lerner's removal, we made clear that in her interview with PSI staff a month earlier, Ms. Lerner failed to disclose any information regarding the internal IRS controversy over inappropriate targeting of conservative groups, a serious failure to disclose important information to Congress. In the letter, we wrote:

"On April 30, 2013, Ms. Lerner and seven IRS colleagues spent six-hours being interviewed, on a bipartisan basis, by Subcommittee staff. That interview covered, among other topics, how the IRS determines which groups to review, what actions are taken in connection with the IRS reviews, and how the laws and regulations are used to examine those groups. Ms. Lerner failed to disclose the internal controversy over the search terms used by the Cincinnati office to identify 501(c)(4) groups for further review, the actions taken by that office in reviewing the identified groups, the investigation and imminent findings by the Treasury Department Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA); and TIGTA's conclusion that the IRS had used inappropriate criteria to target Tea Party and other conservative groups. Ms. Lerner also failed to disclose that she was fully aware of these issues as early as June 2011, and, according to TIGTA, had been personally involved in reviewing questionable actions taken by the Cincinnati office. Given the serious failure by Ms. Lerner to disclose to this Subcommittee key information on topics that the Subcommittee was investigating, we have lost confidence in her ability to fulfill her duties as Director of Exempt Organizations at the IRS. Ms. Lerner's continued tenure in the office she holds, where she is responsible for overseeing 1.6 million tax-exempt organizations, would erode public trust and confidence in the IRS and its professional integrity. We believe that the immediate removal of Ms. Lerner from office would be a vital step in helping to restore public trust in the agency.'

"In 2014, Senator Levin released his Democratic Majority PSI report arguing that the IRS's actions were not politically motivated, and that "management failures' explained the inappropriate actions taken by employees of the IRS.

"I refused to sign onto that report, and instead issued my own 37-page rebuttal, entitled "IRS Targeting Tea Party Groups," detailing how the information gathered during the PSI investigation showed that the IRS frequently and pervasively targeted conservative organizations, especially tea party groups. Findings of the McCain dissenting report included:

"The IRS used inappropriate criteria to target specific conservative groups for increased scrutiny and delay.

"Vast distinctions existed in the IRS's treatment of liberal and conservative groups and conservative groups received the bulk of unfair and burdensome treatment.

"The IRS focused on a group's name or policy positions instead of the group's potential political activities, resulting in bias and the disparate treatment of conservative groups.

"The Treasury Department Inspector General's conclusion regarding the inappropriate treatment of conservative groups by the IRS were correct and supported by the statistics.

"Like so many Americans, I was shocked and appalled by revelations that the IRS inappropriately singled out conservative groups for scrutiny, and that our tax system was used to target political opponents.

"As Ranking Member of the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, I devoted significant time and resources to help get to the bottom of this disturbing abuse of power by the IRS. Any article suggesting otherwise is simply wrong, and ignores the facts of my actions over the last several years."

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