Rep. Elijah Cummings and the Three Little Felonies....Flashback In the fall of 2012, True the Vote received a series of letters — eight, nine, 10-page letters from Elijah Cummings out of the blue, conducting what he claimed was ‘his investigation’ of True the Vote. Now mind you, the jurisdiction of the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee is federal agencies. It is not private citizens’ groups in Houston, Texas.” “Congressman Cummings sent this series of letters demanding all this material and information from True the Vote. This went on for several months, and then he would get on national TV, MSNBC of course, and before the letters had been received by True the Vote he’d be waving these letters around and that he’s conducting an investigation, which of course he has no authority under the House rules to do.” On behalf of True the Vote, we filed a complaint against Rep. Cummings on February 6 with the Office of Congressional Ethics asking the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate whether Rep. Cummings or any member of his staff had played any role in getting any of the agencies that went after Catherine Engelbrecht and her family after she became involved with True the Vote. Two IRS audits about the business, her personal tax returns, two visits from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, a surprise visit from OSHA, seven visits from the FBI. I mean, these are not coincidences. And so we wanted to know what role Rep. Cummings or any of his staff had played in any of that and why Rep. Cummings undertook to misrepresent that he was conducting an investigation of True the Vote, which we think was in violation of House rules.” New IRS emails released by the House Oversight Committee show staff working for Democratic Ranking Member Elijah Cummings communicated with the IRS multiple times between 2012 and 2013 about voter fraud prevention group True the Vote. True the Vote was targeted by the IRS after applying for tax exempt status more than two years ago. Further, information shows the IRS and Cummings’ staff asked for nearly identical information from True the Vote President Catherine Engelbrecht about her organization, indicating coordination and improper sharing of confidential taxpayer information. Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell Issa, along with five Subcommittee Chairmen are demanding Cummings provide an explanation for the staff inquiries to the IRS about True the Vote and for his denial that his staff ever contacted the IRS about the group. Although you have previously denied that your staff made inquiries to the IRS about conservative organization True the Vote that may have led to additional agency scrutiny, communication records between your staff and IRS officials – which you did not disclose to Majority Members or staff – indicates otherwise,” the letter to Cummings states. “As the Committee is scheduled to consider a resolution holding Ms. Lerner, a participant in responding to your communications that you failed to disclose, in contempt of Congress, you have an obligation to fully explain your staff’s undisclosed contacts with the IRS.” Asking for confidential IRS information is a felony. A member of the House does not have a legal right to investigate a private citizen. Receiving confidential IRS documents is also a felony. Cummings has done all three. Lawyer Cleta Mitchell requested an ethics probe into Cummings in 2014, and they still haven’t gotten to it. but the House Ethics panel never took up the case. As we all know, the House Ethics Committee is worthless as the teats on a boar hog when it comes to punishing Democrats Before the 2012 election, there seemed to be a concerted effort by Democrats to get the IRS and other agencies onto the backs of conservative groups. Last year, the IRS settled with True the Vote and admitted that their actions were illegal. https://www.davidharrisjr.com/steven/flashback-rep-elijah-cummings-and-the-three-little-felonies/