Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX), a member of the House Judiciary Committee and a former state judge, told Breitbart News he believes a special prosecutor should be appointed to replace Attorney General Eric Holder’s Department of Justice in investigating the IRS’s targeting of conservative and Tea Party groups.
“A special prosecutor is necessary to bring credibility to the investigation,” Poe said in a phone interview on Tuesday. “The credibility of the DOJ is still in question all the way back from Fast and Furious, so that is the reason to give the investigation credibility so it’s done by a special prosecutor.”
Under immense political pressure this week, Holder announced that his DOJ and the FBI–a law enforcement bureau that ultimately reports to him–would investigate the IRS scandal, which included behavior he called “outrageous and unacceptable.” Holder claimed that “we’re examining the facts to see if there were criminal violations.”
Poe said that a DOJ investigation would not be acceptable and that an independent special prosecutor is necessary given Holder’s and track record. Poe also detailed several of the potential crimes that may have been committed by the IRS.
“What may be illegal is the targeting of certain groups because of who they are, not because of tax problems or whether or not they should be tax exempt,” Poe said. “The law prohibits the targeting by the IRS of any group for political reasons. That is a violation of the law. Also, if employees are engaging in political activity to ensure the election or not election of an individual is a violation of the Hatch Act.”
Poe plans to ask Holder questions about this matter during Wednesday’s Judiciary Committee hearing. He told Breitbart News he submitted an outline of the questions to Holder’s office earlier this week so Holder could be ready to answer them.
Conservative group Americans for Limited Government (ALG) has called for a special prosecutor to be appointed as well. In a Tuesday letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, ALG president Nathan Paul Mehrens wrote, “Only an independent, special prosecutor can get to the bottom of this in a fair and impartial manner.”
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.