The deep state has been playing dirty for years.
But what they’re hiding inside the IRS will blow your mind.
And an IRS official’s connection to this awful Obama scandal had Donald Trump seeing red.
Obama’s IRS scandal lives on in Trump’s second term
Most Americans remember the shocking Obama-era IRS scandal that rocked the nation over a decade ago.
The agency systematically targeted conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status during the 2012 election cycle.
Tea Party organizations and other right-leaning nonprofits found themselves buried under mountains of bureaucratic red tape while liberal groups sailed through the approval process.
But what many people don’t realize is that the officials responsible for that political targeting are still running the show at the IRS.
Elizabeth Kastenberg, who was directly involved in the Obama administration’s audit of conservative nonprofit organizations, is now the acting director of the IRS’s Office of Professional Responsibility.
That’s right — the woman who helped orchestrate the political targeting of conservatives is now in charge of ethics at the IRS.
Research compiled by the American Accountability Foundation and obtained exclusively by the Washington Examiner reveals the stunning truth about Kastenberg’s role in the scandal.
Kastenberg worked to find ways to deny tax-exempt status to groups linked to the Tea Party movement and even admitted that the agency’s behavior was politically motivated, according to the research.
The ethics office is packed with Trump haters
Kastenberg isn’t working alone in her new position overseeing IRS ethics.
Her deputy is Jacqueline Bennett, a supervisory legal administrative specialist who has a disturbing history of anti-conservative social media posts.
Bennett has a history of making social media posts critical of the conservative movement, including at least one instance where she compared the United States under the Trump administration to Germany under the Nazi Party, according to the American Accountability Foundation’s research.
The research also found that Bennett posted content accusing President Trump of being a psychopath, disclosed attending multiple anti-Trump protests, and defended liberal legal activism aimed at undermining the administration’s agenda.
These two women now comprise half of the four-person team tasked with leading the IRS’s ethics office.
Together, they are responsible for ensuring that tax practitioners, tax preparers, and other third parties in the tax system follow professional standards and comply with the law.
The irony is thick enough to cut with a knife.
Congressional testimony exposes Kastenberg’s central role
Kastenberg’s involvement in the Obama-era targeting scandal isn’t based on speculation or rumors.
It’s backed up by hard evidence from congressional testimony.
A 2013 congressional testimony from an IRS agent who worked under Kastenberg confirms she was in charge of reviewing audits on right-leaning groups.
The testimony states that she was present in the room with senior leadership when key decisions related to the targeting controversy were made.
A House Oversight Committee report released in December 2014 found that Kastenberg had been directed by a senior staffer working under Lois Lerner to develop a justification to deny tax-exempt status to Tea Party groups.
Lerner ultimately resigned over her central role in the targeting controversy.
Kastenberg was aware that politically motivated targeting was occurring at the IRS as early as 2011.
In an April 2011 email to colleagues, she wrote: "These cases are held back primarily because of their political party affiliation rather than specifically any political activities."
That’s a smoking gun admission that the IRS was engaging in political targeting of conservative groups.
The swamp is fighting back against Trump
Even after Trump’s return to power, liberal officials continue to occupy key positions throughout the IRS.
The Washington Examiner reported in April that 60% of individuals occupying leadership positions in the IRS’s commissioner and deputy commissioner’s offices had supported liberal causes, either financially or through statements.
Another major IRS division is led by Holly Paz, who was also implicated in the Obama-era IRS targeting controversy, alongside other critics of the president.
The Trump administration has started making some moves to clean house.
In May, left-leaning IRS spokeswoman Jodie Reynolds was removed from her post after 27 years with the agency.
Reynolds had a history of making and liking social media posts critical of Trump.
But clearly, there’s still a lot more work to be done.
The fact that Elizabeth Kastenberg and Jacqueline Bennett are now running the IRS ethics office shows just how deep the swamp really goes.
These aren’t just random bureaucrats with political opinions.
These are officials with a documented history of using their government positions to target conservatives and undermine Republican administrations.
Americans deserve an IRS that treats all taxpayers fairly, regardless of their political beliefs.
Instead, they’re getting an agency where the people in charge of ethics have a track record of political targeting and Trump hatred.
President Trump has promised to drain the swamp, and the IRS ethics office would be a good place to start.
