The Department of Justice investigation into IRS abuses against conservative tax-exempt groups was a "sham," Cleta Mitchell, lawyer for one of those groups, tells
Newsmax TV.
The DOJ announced last week
it would not pursue criminal charges against former IRS official Lois Lerner. Mitchell has sued on behalf of True the Vote and its president Catherine Engelbrecht.
"I don't think they did a real investigation," Mitchell said Monday on "Newsmax Prime." "They never interviewed any of the victims. To my knowledge they did not interview a single victim of the IRS targeting."
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Lerner turned over confidential taxpayer information for thousands of tax-exempt organizations, and admitted it to the group in the Justice Department that was conducting the investigation, Mitchell said.
"This was a sham investigation. They talked to me only after I testified to the House Oversight Committee that the DOJ investigation was a sham," she said. "Nothing has happened to change my opinion."
Mitchell has sued Lerner and others at the IRS on behalf of True the Vote. The case currently is on appeal following a ruling that the case was moot because the IRS said it has stopped the practice.
Mitchell said she hopes to see the District of Columbia Court of Appeals reverse the decision in December and allow a trial.
That said, Mitchell doesn't believe Lerner will ever face prosecution for her actions, "because, remember, she destroyed the evidence. All of her emails for the … period of time are gone, so they say."
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