Justice Dept. Refuses Special Prosecutor in IRS Flap

The Department of Justice is refusing to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the IRS Tea Party targeting scandal.

In the run-up to the 2012 presidential election, the IRS stifled tax-exemption requests from dozens of conservative groups that were potential opponents of President Barack Obama, hobbling their impact.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz had requested that the Justice Department assign a non-partisan special counsel to the case, rather than relying on the Obama administration to investigate itself.

But Obama DOJ appointee Peter J. Kadzik recently wrote to Cruz, telling him a special counsel was unnecessary.

Kadzik said  that a special counsel is only "appointed when an investigation or prosecution by the Department of Justice would present a conflict of interest...such that the public interest would be served by such an appointment."

After the scandal broke, the Obama administration appointed a major Obama campaign donor to investigate the IRS instead of an independent prosecutor.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, tweeted and issued a press release about the DOJ's latest move.

"It is the height of hypocrisy for the Obama administration to claim that the investigator leading the investigation into the IRS's illegal program has no conflict of interest," Cruz stated.

The American Center for Law & Justice agreed, saying the Justice Department's decision not to appoint an independent prosecutor "contributes to a troubling and growing pattern of obstruction."

"An independent prosecutor - with no political agenda - is truly needed to uncover the origin and depth of this unconstitutional targeting scheme. By rejecting this request, the Justice Department puts politics ahead of the rule of law," Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ, said.

"Sadly, in the discretion of the attorney general, Eric Holder has chosen to reject the bipartisan tradition of the Department of Justice of putting rule of law above political allegiance," Cruz also said.