IRS Audits Conservative Watchdog That Aired Out Biden Appointees

(ConservativeInsider.org) – The American Accountability Foundation is now being scrutinized by the IRS in an audit that will reevaluate its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. According to a letter from the IRS to AAF, the invasive investigation claimed to require extensive records surrounding the watchdog group’s external communications.

In the past, AAF has issued advertisements which target particularly radical progressive nominations from the Biden administration. Specifically, FCC Chair nominee Gigi Sohn, National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator nominee Ann Carlson, and Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse have been included in their informative statements to the public.

This, however, would not be the first time that AAF would go head to head with a federal agency following a lack of government accountability. In September of 2022, AAF submitted 30 Freedom of Information Act records requests regarding conversations between DOJ employees and external third parties. The DOJ acknowledged the receipt of the requests but did not respond to fill the requests. Subsequently, AAF filed suit.

In the wake of this charge of partisanship by the federal agency, the activities of the investigation call back to federal improprieties of almost a decade ago. From 2010 to 2012, the IRS was notably recorded to disproportionally audit both conservative nonprofit organizations, registered Republicans and their small businesses.

By sorting groups with “tea party” or “patriot” in their names that filed for tax-exempt status, the IRS delayed and denied many applications upon this basis, with IRS spokeswoman Lois Lerner later admitting that the discrimination was “absolutely inappropriate.”

Let it be noted that, under President Barack Obama, President Biden served as the Vice President during the overreach. If an investigation of AAF, fueled by unfavorable representation of Biden nominees, derives from the same inappropriate government misuse, perhaps the Obama era is not over. With yet another opposing Democratic administration putting their conservative rivals under the microscope, so continues the current trend of intrusive legal pursuit of personal critics.