Kaplony
Palmetto State Deplorable
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I Root For: Newberry
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Obama DOJ blocked conservative groups from settlement funds
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/10/...-says.html
Quote:The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee claims he obtained a “smoking gun” email that proves the Obama Justice Department prevented settlement payouts from going to conservative-leaning organizations, even as liberal groups were awarded money and DOJ officials denied “picking and choosing” recipients.
“It is not every day in congressional investigations that we find a smoking gun,” Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said Tuesday. “Here, we have it.”
While Eric Holder was U.S. attorney general, the Justice Department allowed prosecutors to strike agreements compelling big companies to give money to outside groups not connected to their cases to meet settlement burdens. Republican lawmakers long have decried those payments as a “slush fund” that boosted liberal groups, and the Trump DOJ ended the practice earlier this year.
But internal Justice Department emails released Tuesday by Goodlatte indicated that not only were officials involved in determining what organizations would get the money, but also Justice Department officials may have intervened to make sure the settlements didn’t go to conservative groups.
Quote:In one such email in July 2014, a senior Justice Department official expressed “concerns” about what groups would receive settlement money from Citigroup — saying they didn’t want money going to a group that does “conservative property-rights legal services.”
“Concerns include: a) not allowing Citi to pick a statewide intermediary like the Pacific Legal Foundation (does conservative property-rights legal services),” the official, whose name is redacted in the email, wrote under the title of “Acting Senior Counselor for Access to Justice.”
The official added that “we are more likely to get the right result from a state bar association affiliated entity.”
Quote:Goodlatte, who is sponsoring the Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act of 2017, disclosed the emails during a speech on the House floor, taking aim at then-Associate Attorney General Tony West.
“Aiding their political allies was only the half of it,” Goodlatte said. “The evidence of the Obama DOJ’s abuse of power shows that Tony West’s team went out of its way to exclude conservative groups.”
The documents indicate West played an active role in helping certain organizations obtain settlement information.
“Can you explain to Tony the best way to allocate some money to an organization of our choosing?” Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Elizabeth Taylor wrote in one November 2013 email.
Groups who received funding also expressed appreciation for West’s efforts, according to the emails.
“Now that it has been more than 24 hours for us all to try and digest the Bank of America settlement, I would like to discuss ways we might want to recognize and show appreciation for the Department of Justice and specifically Associate Attorney General Tony West,” wrote Charles R. Dunlap, executive director of the Indiana Bar, in an August 2014 email.
Dunlap wrote that West “by all accounts was the one person most responsible” for the Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts group receiving money.
Quote:In 2015, however, Geoffrey Graber, who oversaw the Justice Department’s big banks settlements, told Goodlatte during a congressional hearing that the department “did not want to be in the business of picking and choosing which organizations may or may not receive any funding under the agreement.”
“But internal DOJ documents tell a different story,” Goodlatte said Tuesday. “They show that contrary to Graber’s sworn testimony, the donation provisions were structured to aid the Obama administration’s political friends and exclude conservative groups.”
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10-25-2017 08:57 AM |
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UofMstateU
Legend
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RE: Obama DOJ blocked conservative groups from settlement funds
Well, 2009-2016 will go down as the most non-transparent and corrupt periods in our nations history.
mmmmm mmmmmm mmmmmmm
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10-25-2017 09:05 AM |
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Crebman
Heisman
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RE: Obama DOJ blocked conservative groups from settlement funds
(10-25-2017 08:57 AM)Kaplony Wrote: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/10/...-says.html
Quote:The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee claims he obtained a “smoking gun” email that proves the Obama Justice Department prevented settlement payouts from going to conservative-leaning organizations, even as liberal groups were awarded money and DOJ officials denied “picking and choosing” recipients.
“It is not every day in congressional investigations that we find a smoking gun,” Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said Tuesday. “Here, we have it.”
While Eric Holder was U.S. attorney general, the Justice Department allowed prosecutors to strike agreements compelling big companies to give money to outside groups not connected to their cases to meet settlement burdens. Republican lawmakers long have decried those payments as a “slush fund” that boosted liberal groups, and the Trump DOJ ended the practice earlier this year.
But internal Justice Department emails released Tuesday by Goodlatte indicated that not only were officials involved in determining what organizations would get the money, but also Justice Department officials may have intervened to make sure the settlements didn’t go to conservative groups.
Quote:In one such email in July 2014, a senior Justice Department official expressed “concerns” about what groups would receive settlement money from Citigroup — saying they didn’t want money going to a group that does “conservative property-rights legal services.”
“Concerns include: a) not allowing Citi to pick a statewide intermediary like the Pacific Legal Foundation (does conservative property-rights legal services),” the official, whose name is redacted in the email, wrote under the title of “Acting Senior Counselor for Access to Justice.”
The official added that “we are more likely to get the right result from a state bar association affiliated entity.”
Quote:Goodlatte, who is sponsoring the Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act of 2017, disclosed the emails during a speech on the House floor, taking aim at then-Associate Attorney General Tony West.
“Aiding their political allies was only the half of it,” Goodlatte said. “The evidence of the Obama DOJ’s abuse of power shows that Tony West’s team went out of its way to exclude conservative groups.”
The documents indicate West played an active role in helping certain organizations obtain settlement information.
“Can you explain to Tony the best way to allocate some money to an organization of our choosing?” Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Elizabeth Taylor wrote in one November 2013 email.
Groups who received funding also expressed appreciation for West’s efforts, according to the emails.
“Now that it has been more than 24 hours for us all to try and digest the Bank of America settlement, I would like to discuss ways we might want to recognize and show appreciation for the Department of Justice and specifically Associate Attorney General Tony West,” wrote Charles R. Dunlap, executive director of the Indiana Bar, in an August 2014 email.
Dunlap wrote that West “by all accounts was the one person most responsible” for the Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts group receiving money.
Quote:In 2015, however, Geoffrey Graber, who oversaw the Justice Department’s big banks settlements, told Goodlatte during a congressional hearing that the department “did not want to be in the business of picking and choosing which organizations may or may not receive any funding under the agreement.”
“But internal DOJ documents tell a different story,” Goodlatte said Tuesday. “They show that contrary to Graber’s sworn testimony, the donation provisions were structured to aid the Obama administration’s political friends and exclude conservative groups.”
Chicago politics at it's finest......and plenty of them have wound up in jail for their shenanigans.
Too bad they couldn't have, you know, used that money to pay down the debt or put into SS or Medicare/Medicaid......... nope - funnel it to our political "friends".
What a cesspool.
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10-25-2017 09:12 AM |
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bullet
Legend
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RE: Obama DOJ blocked conservative groups from settlement funds
If this sort of thing wasn't a crime, we should pass a law making it one. Public settlement funds should go to public entities, not to favored political organizations. Its basically just a shakedown by the government.
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10-25-2017 09:14 AM |
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Kaplony
Palmetto State Deplorable
Posts: 25,393
Joined: Apr 2013
I Root For: Newberry
Location: SC
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RE: Obama DOJ blocked conservative groups from settlement funds
(10-25-2017 09:14 AM)bullet Wrote: If this sort of thing wasn't a crime, we should pass a law making it one. Public settlement funds should go to public entities, not to favored political organizations. Its basically just a shakedown by the government.
That's what Goodlatte is trying to do. The Trump DOJ ended the practice administratively, but a different administration in the future could reinstate it. Goodlatte is trying to pass legislation requiring settlement payments to go to the public treasury.
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10-25-2017 09:27 AM |
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bullet
Legend
Posts: 66,287
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RE: Obama DOJ blocked conservative groups from settlement funds
(10-25-2017 09:27 AM)Kaplony Wrote: (10-25-2017 09:14 AM)bullet Wrote: If this sort of thing wasn't a crime, we should pass a law making it one. Public settlement funds should go to public entities, not to favored political organizations. Its basically just a shakedown by the government.
That's what Goodlatte is trying to do. The Trump DOJ ended the practice administratively, but a different administration in the future could reinstate it. Goodlatte is trying to pass legislation requiring settlement payments to go to the public treasury.
It shouldn't go to progressive or conservative organizations.
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10-25-2017 09:28 AM |
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Native Georgian
Legend
Posts: 27,511
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I Root For: TULANE+GA.STATE
Location: Decatur GA
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RE: Obama DOJ blocked conservative groups from settlement funds
Quote:the official, whose name is redacted in the email, wrote under the title of “Acting Senior Counselor for Access to Justice.”
1. Why is the name redacted? 2. When was this position created?
Quote:The official added that “we are more likely to get the right result from a state bar association affiliated entity.”
If by “the right result”, the author meant a result pleasing to Democrats and other pro-Obama types, then yes you will absolutely get “the right result” by going through a state bar association. Virtually certain of it, with the occasional blue-moon exception.
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10-25-2017 09:47 AM |
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