The Lois Lerner files

This past week House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp announced that the Committee, acting had voted out a criminal referral letter to Attorney General Eric Holder regarding actions taken by IRS employee Lois Lerner. Camp’s press release is posted here. Camp’s letter of referral and exhibits are posted here.

Camp’s letter covers a lot of ground. Kim Strassel devotes a good Wall Street Journal column sorting through it, as does Jay Sekulow a good Fox News column. The New York Times provides the mainstream media’s take in an article by Jeremy Peters.

The Times notes the existence of an ongoing Department of Justice Investigation. Yet it fails to note that three months ago that “law enforcement officials” leaked word that they doesn’t plan to file criminal charges over the IRS misconduct, or that Obama promptly weighed in with his analysis that the events disclosed “not even a smidgen” of wrongdoing. The investigation continues, but what manner of investigation is this?

The Ways and Means Committee’s criminal referral is going nowhere, but it deserves attention. It is to be viewed in the context of the administration’s “investigation,” which is suggestive of wrongdoing and of a coverup extending beyond Lois Lerner. The committee’s referral thus provides illumination even if it does not lead to prosecution.

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