WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwired - Jul 9, 2014) - Judicial Watch announced today that on June 17, 2014, it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Justice (DOJ) seeking the number of hours DOJ Attorney Barbara Bosserman expended in the investigation of the IRS targeting of conservative organizations seeking tax exempt status during the 2010 and 2012 elections cycles (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:14-cv-01024)).
In what House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform chairman Darryl Issa (R-CA) called "a startling conflict of interest," Bosserman was appointed by Attorney General Eric Holder to oversee the DOJ/ FBI investigation despite her being a substantial contributor to the political campaigns of Barack Obama and to the Democratic National Committee (DNC). According to Federal Election Commission records, Bosserman contributed $6,750 to Obama campaigns and the DNC from 2004 to 2012, including 12 separate contributions to Obama for America between 2008 and 2012.
The FOIA lawsuit filed pursuant to a February 25, 2014, FOIA request seeks the following:
All Justice Department records from the Interactive Case Management System [a web-based system for storing and accessing information about contacts, calendars, cases, documents, time tracking, and billing, etc.] detailing the number of hours DOJ Attorney Barbara Bosserman expended on the investigation of the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservative organizations seeking tax-exempt status in the 2010 and 2012 elections cycles.
In a joint letter to Holder on January 8, 2014, Issa and House Subcommittee on Economic Growth chairman Jim Jordon (R-OH) asked that Bosserman be removed from the investigation, charging that her "conflict of interest has tainted any information she has gathered." Holder refused to remove Bosserman and she failed to appear at a February 6 House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing entitled: "The IRS Targeting Investigation: What is the Administration Doing?" Since that time, there has been little to any public information that any investigation is taking place.
"If there is a serious criminal investigation of the worsening IRS scandal, as promised by Attorney General Eric Holder, then it is the best kept secret in Washington," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "The mere fact that Judicial Watch had to file a federal lawsuit to find out if the lead DOJ investigator, who is an Obama donor, is spending any time actually investigating the scandal tells us all we need to know about this compromised Justice Department."