RUSH: Twenty-one sexists voted to hold her in contempt and 12 reasonable, nice, nonjudgmental Democrats voted “no.” This means, ladies and gentlemen, that she can be arrested, if Darrell Issa chooses to do this. Not only can she be arrested, she can be detained by the House of Representatives after having been voted in contempt.

That is not insignificant. Some people may think that’s just the latest political maneuver, and, who knows, and it might well be. But it is not insignificant to be held in contempt of Congress. This whole Lois Lerner thing, everything that we suspected has turned out to be true. She was in league with the administration to harm the Tea Party, using the power of the IRS to deny them tax-exempt status and therefore political free speech.

She was working in connection with Elijah Cummings, who’s the ranking Democrat for the Congressional Black Caucasians. He’s the ranking Democrat on the committee. She was working with him to sabotage an organization called True the Vote. That’s the organization run by Catherine Engelbrecht, I believe out of Texas. That was an anti-voter fraud effort she was engaged in, and the Democrats did not want that shut down.

They did not grant her tax-exempt status so she couldn’t get into gear, couldn’t raise money and get to work. It turns out that Lois Lerner was sharing details of True the Vote with Elijah Cummings ’cause he was asking for it and back and forth. So now we know why Elijah Cummings was supposedly erupting spontaneously all those times during committee hearings.

It was simply to make sure that whenever anything was headed his way, that it got deflected. And, of course, he threw down the race card as well at one point. We’ve got audio sound bites backing this up. She can be arrested now, and there’s even an e-mail that’s been uncovered that she sent that if things broke down, she could always go work for Podesta.

What’s that thing Podesta runs? There’s so many of these Obama/Clinton… (interruption) I don’t think so. It might have been Center for American Progress. It’s one of those things that John Podesta runs. She could have gone over there and just furthered her political activism, and the reason why that was important is because she was revealing the fact that she was a strident partisan Democrat using that in her job at the IRS.

Oh, no, no. As I say, she was just joking about going to work for that group. She was just day before she was just joking. It was Organizing for Action, which used to be organizing for Obama. No, no, no. It was Organizing for Action that she was gonna go work for, which is the offshoot. During the campaign it was Organizing for Obama.

When he got elected they changed the name to Organizing for America, but it remained his agitation group, his community organizer group. She made a joke in an e-mail back and forth with Elijah Cummings, “Well, maybe I could work over there.” Slate.com and Mother Jones and all these people say, “Oh, she was just kidding! It’s not clear that she was being truthful.”

Because if she was being truthful, she was revealing to those who didn’t know it just how partisan she was.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Katie Pavlich at Town Hall has the news: “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,” and there’s no doubt in anybody’s mind this happened. Catherine Engelbrecht and her group were targeted. They were a voter-fraud group.

Democrats? (Snort!) No action is permitted on cleaning up voter fraud, and so Elijah Cummings, his staff wanted to know from the IRS what was going on with this group, that’s a clear violation of the law. The IRS can’t tell everybody this stuff. The IRS is not allowed to communicate with anybody about this kind of thing. They’re not allowed to share information. Cummings is not entitled to it and his staff’s not entitled to it, and Lerner is not entitled to share it.

“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.” So Elijah Cummings said (paraphrased), “We didn’t do it. My staff didn’t do it. It’s all lies and you’re racists.”

The letter to Cummings goes this way: “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.

“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 [Cummings] have an obligation to fully explain your staffÂ’s undisclosed contacts with the IRS.” Town Hall: “The first contact between the IRS and Cummings’ staffers about True the Vote happened in August 2012.

“In January 2013, staff asked for more information from the IRS about the group. Former head of tax exempt groups at the IRS Lois Lerner went out of her way to try and get information to Cummings’ office. The information Cummings received was not shared with Majority Members on the Committee,” meaning the Republicans.

“On January 28, three days after staffers requested more information, Lerner wrote an email to her deputy Holly Paz, who has since been put on administrative leave, asking, ‘Did we find anything?’ Paz responded immediately by saying information had not been found yet, to which Lerner replied, ‘Thanks. Check tomorrow please.’ On January 31, Paz sent True the Vote’s 990 forms to Cumming’s staff.”

All of this is illegal.

None of this passes the smell test.

“Up until this point, Rep. Cummings has denied his staff ever contacted the IRS about True the Vote and their activities during Oversight hearings. In fact, on February 6, 2014 during a Subcommittee hearing where Engelbrecht testified, Cummings vehemently denied having any contact or coordination in targeting True the Vote when attorney Cleta Mitchell, who is representing the group, indicated staff on the Committee had been involved in communication with the IRS.”

So there are e-mails suggesting that Elijah Cummings prompted the IRS targeting of True the Vote. “Most Powerful White House Obamacare Official at Center of IRS Scandal.” That’s another story involving Jeanne Lambrew. The proper headline should be: “E-mails Suggest Elijah Cummings Prompted IRS Targeting of True the Vote,” because, folks, these e-mails speak for themselves, and Elijah Cummings’ phony tirades speak for themselves.

Now we know why Cummings went postal at a recent hearing on the IRS. It turns out he’s up to his damn knees in the filth that this Lois Lerner engaged in with the persecution of all of these conservative groups. This guy Cummings, and Lois Lerner, ought to go to jail accompanied by some of his staff. That’s where they ought to be, and she has now been found today contempt of Congress.

She could be arrested, and she could be detained. She could put her behind bars. But Cummings ought to be there, too. This was direct intervention and politicization of the IRS to inflict damage on a conservative group to deny it tax-exempt status, so that it basically could not get up and running. Now, why were they so afraid of a group that was going to try to tamp down voter fraud?

Do you realize there was abject panic over what Catherine Engelbrecht wanted to do? There was so much panic that Cummings and his staff demanded to know everything about this group from the IRS; the IRS (i.e. Lois Lerner) provided it, and this allowed for the harassment of the group. “The White House official who exchanged confidential taxpayer information with the IRS is a longtime Obama advisor and liberal activist who is currently the most powerful official on Obamacare implementation within the White House.

“Jeanne Lambrew, deputy assistant to the president for health policy, entered Obama-world in 2008 as a health-policy adviser to then-Senator Obama’s presidential campaign. She was subsequently named deputy director and then director of the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) now-defunct Office of Health Reform, where she reported directly to Kathleen Sebelius.

“Lambrew’s current ‘deputy assistant to the president’ position, while modest-sounding, gives her extensive and centralized power over the White House’s efforts to implement Obamacare.” The corruption here, folks, is rampant. It is everywhere. It’s all over. Remember when Cummings erupted in a recent hearing when Lerner would not answer any questions?

She pled the fifth, and of course there’s even an argument about that. Trey Gowdy made the great point that she can’t take the fifth after she gave an opening statement. If you give an opening statement, you have given up your right not testify. You can’t then go back and claim a Fifth Amendment right not to implicate yourself ’cause you’ve already testified. An opening statement is testimony.

So Cummings, after Issa shut down hearing, asked her three or four questions. She said (summarized), “I’m sorry, I’m not gonna answer my Fifth Amendment. Screw you!” So Issa shut it down, and then Cummings started raising hell about something, wanting to ask a question, and Issa said, “No, you can’t,. No, you can’t.” Issa finally relented, and Cummings started reading a statement. He wasn’t asking a question.

So Issa then shut the thing down again, and Cummings went ballistic, claiming racism and denial of free speech and abuse of power by Issa. Now we know why Cummings was doing all that. He was trying to deflect everybody’s attention away from his own involvement in this. We also know why Lerner took the fifth, even though we’re not supposed to say it.

She took the fifth so she would not incriminate herself and Elijah Cummings of the Congressional Black Caucasians. So this morning in Washington on Capitol Hill, the House Oversight Government Reform Committee held a meeting to consider a resolution holding former IRS employee Lois Lerner in contempt (which they ultimately did, because she wouldn’t answer any questions). During this meeting, Cummings spoke and said this…

CUMMINGS: In 1954, Senator McCarthy accused a woman named Diantha Hoag of being a communist. She worked at the Westinghouse company in a small town in New York, making $1.71 per hour, and the similarities to today’s hearing are simply striking. Like Chairman Issa is doing today, Senator McCarthy held a witness in contempt and sought criminal prosecution. So today, I will vote against the resolution. I do not want to go back to the shameful era in which Congress tried to strip away the constitutional rights of American citizens under the bright lights of hearings that had nothing to do with the responsible oversight and everything to do with worst — the worst kind of partisan politics.

RUSH: Right. “The worst kind of partisan politics” is what Cummings and his staff did. What Lerner did was the absolute worst kind of partisan politics. You know, most everybody thinks and has thought this forever. Most everybody thinks that the president can call the IRS and order an audit. Everybody thinks that can happen. What they don’t know is, does it. But they all think it can.

Every prominent person I know, after speaking out, always makes a joke, “I guess I just guaranteed an audit.” So everybody has always assumed that the IRS can be used by higher-ups for political reciprocity. Nobody has ever known for sure. Even after you get an audit, it’s tough to know whether it’s political in nature, or whether your name just came up or whether you won or lost, as the case may be, the lottery.

Now we know.

Now there is no doubt, because this administration used the IRS for years to make sure that Tea Party groups didn’t get anywhere. They made sure they were never granted tax-exempt status, and the details they submitted when they applied for it were disseminated to Democrats so that they could end up being harassed with that information in hand.

So now we know. Nixon is reputed to have threatened to sick the IRS on people. He never actually did it, but everybody has assumed it. So, anyway, Cummings decided to go to McCarthyism route, and all the Democrats followed suit. After Cummings spoke, it was Democrat Gerald Connolly, Virginia…

CONNOLLY: (shouting) Unfortunately, what we’re about today brings us right back to the McCarthy era. If you want to look at case law, that’s where you have to go! That’s the last time Congress trampled on rights, citizens’ rights — un-heroic citizens. When we jeopardize the rights of a citizen like Lois Lerner, we put in jeopardy the rights of every American!

RUSH: The rights of a citizen like Lois Lerner? How about the rights of a citizen like Catherine Engelbrecht? Lois Lerner was the agent of McCarthyism, not the victim of it. She was the McCarthyite! I don’t even want to get into a discussion about McCarthy, but I wonder how many low-information people know what McCarthyism is. Well, it may not be a good point. They may actually know.

The Democrats, it’s one of the things they constantly allege, and it’s taught as part of the curriculum to explain how evil and mean-spirited and racist and bigoted the Republicans are. It’s mistaught, by the way. Anyway, here’s Trey Gowdy. We gotta go to a break, but I want to play Trey Gowdy. He’s a Republican, and it was at this meeting he spoke up, and he makes the point that she gave up her Fifth Amendment rights.

GOWDY: I counted 17 separate factual assertions by Miss Lerner! Not those three little sentences that my colleagues like to cite, 17 separate factual assertions! That is a lot of talking for somebody who wants to remain silent! That’s a lot of talkin’! If you honestly believe that you can make 17 separate factual assertions and still invoke your right to remain silence, then please tell me what waiver is. Can you imagine, Mr. Chairman? Can you imagine a fact pattern where somebody takes the stand and says, “I didn’t rob the bank, but I’m not gonna answer while my fingerprints are on the demand note; and I’m not gonna tell you why I’m on the surveillance footage with a gun in my hand; and I’m not gonna tell you why the dye pack blew up in my car. I’m just gonna tell you I didn’t rob the bank.” That’s not the way our system works!

RUSH: That’s right. They can’t take the Fifth Amendment after you’ve begun to testify. They didn’t let her. She was found to be in contempt today at a vote of 21 to 12.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Grab sound bites 14 and 15. This IRS business is amazing. Let’s review. And, by the way, this McCarthyism business, remember, it’s in movies all the time. You remember the movie The Way We Were? (interruption) Well, who was in it, then? Okay, Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford. It was all about McCarthyism. The media loves it. It’s like Alger Hiss.

The low-information voters know what McCarthyism is and they know who Alger Hiss is. (interruption) Yes, they do. Whenever a Democrat is under the microscope, it’s always McCarthyism. (interruption) Well, okay, people that are calling 911 when McDonald’s doesn’t have McNuggets mind it know who Hiss is, but they think they know what McCarthyism is. Let’s review here.

The IRS has been asking American citizens who are trying to get a tax exemption, “Are you now or have you ever been a supporter of the Tea Party?” and that’s not McCarthyism. No. The congressman investigating that abuse, they are accused of McCarthyism. So McCarthyism has become the quest for truth of Democrat corruption. That’s the new definition of McCarthyism.

Whenever you try to find the truth of Democrat Party corruption, that’s McCarthyism and racism ’cause you’re not entitled to do that. But this is what the Democrats do. When they get caught red-handed in acts of corruption like Cummings was just caught colluding with Lois Lerner, they start saying the most outrageous thing they can think of try to change the subject.

Cummings and pretty much every one of the members of the Congressional Black Caucasians are experts, masters of this. They are masters of throwing around the most radical, crazy accusations to deflect everybody or distract everybody’s attention. I think Cummings even called Issa un-American for pursuing this, couple weeks ago. Cummings said Issa was un-American.

Now he’s accusing him of McCarthyism. Meanwhile, nobody knows what McCarthyism really is because a bunch of it was trumped up. Anyway, here is Barack Hussein Obama. This is February 2, 2014, on Fox TV’s Super Bowl pregame show. The O’Reilly Factor host, Bill O’Baxter — Bill O’Reilly (sorry, it says O’Baxter here) was interviewing Obama about the IRS scandal.

O’Reilly said, “You’re saying there was no corruption in this IRS scandal?”

OBAMA: No.

O’REILLY: No.

OBAMA: No. There were some — there were some bonehead decisions.

O’REILLY: Bonehead decisions.

OBAMA: Out of a —

O’REILLY: But no mass corruption?

OBAMA: Not even mass corruption. Not even a smidgen of corruption.

RUSH: “Not even a smidgeon,” and there you have it. “Not a smidgeon of corruption.” Case closed. This morning on CBS This Morning, Jan Crawford, formally Jan Crawford-Greenburg and now just Jan Crawford (Greenburg, gone) reported about the disclosure that IRS employees were actively campaigning for Obama during work hours. Oh, that’s another thing. At the IRS office in Texas and any number of other places, they found pro-Obama screen savers and other paraphernalia in IRS offices at election time. That’s a big no-no. So Jan Crawford was talking about that.

CRAWFORD: (sounding shocked) Yesterday ethics investigators also reporting that IRS employees at several different offices were actively supporting President Obama while they were on the job, including one employee they reported who was urging people that were calling into this taxpayer help line to vote for the president.

RUSH: She was shocked. She was shocked that IRS officials would campaign for Obama. Does anybody else find this shocking? Are you shocked by it? I’m not shocked by it, that Obama would use the IRS, or that he would populate the IRS with Obama voters and supporters? Only somebody in the media could be shocked by this.

And it is not for long, once it’s explained to her. “Jan, this was to make sure the Tea Party didn’t get anywhere.” “Ohhhhh! Oh, oh, okay. I get it now. All right. No story here. That’s right. That’s exactly right.”