In breaking news, it now appears that the Treasury Department and the IRS, courtesy of everyone’s favorite IRS villain, Lois Lerner, were conspiring to limit the political speech of conservative groups “off book” in a way that wouldn’t be disclosed publicly. As reported today at the Daily Caller:

The Treasury Department and Lerner started devising the new rules “off-plan,” meaning that their plans would not be published on the public schedule. They planned the new rules in 2012, while the IRS targeting of conservative groups was in full swing, and not after the scandal broke in order to clarify regulations as the administration has suggested.

We shouldn’t forget that in a pre-Superbowl interview last weekend, the president did his best to stifle an allegedly active, ongoing investigation by the FBI into possible criminal activity at the IRS. Obama, in an interview with Bill O’Reilly of FoxNews, said that there was “not even a smidgen of corruption” at the IRS surrounding the never-ending scandal involving the targeting of conservative groups. 

Rewinding, in reference to the exploding IRS scandal, the president declared in a press conference in May 2013, “I have got no patience with it, I will not tolerate it, and we will make sure that we find out exactly what happened on this.”

Since that time, the American people have had nothing but defiance and obfuscation from the president on down in response to get to the bottom of the scandal. 

A long-time supporter of the president has been appointed to head the investigation at the Justice Department, the new director of the IRS has absolutely no progress to report, Lois Lerner has taken the Fifth and is on permanent government retirement benefits. The FBI is “investigating,” apparently without talking to any of the alleged victims, and while the president, the highest law enforcement officer in the nation, is making clear that there is “not a smidgen” of wrongdoing to be found.

The American people have lost faith in their government. Is it any wonder? We deserve the truth. Who is responsible for the intentional targeting of American citizens exercising their First Amendment rights? It’s actually not that complex. But it is difficult to get to the real answers when federal agencies can hide behind the authority of a dishonest president.

Today, we find the latest in a long line of revelations about this scandal; the IRS and Treasury Department were working to crack down on free speech rights of Americans, and knew that targeting conservatives as they were would be controversial, so they did it “off-book.” 

Mr. President, still “not a smidgen of corruption” at the IRS?