The judge handling the IRS episode over the Tea Party stuff....gave an odd directive to the head of the IRS last week. He wants the head guy to come back next week, and give testimony.....under oath. The media has barely covered this order, and no one really says much over it. Having worked around the US government.....I can state that this oath business probably changes a ton of things over a short period of time.
What will happen here? As the order was given for testimony under oath.....the head guy starts to sweat a bit. Number one....rarely do any of these people hired for such a lofty position....have any understanding of IT work or situations. They hire people to handle IT requirements. So, just asking one stupid and routine question....means a answer under oath, and the head guy probably can't do an adequate job.
Number two.....once he realizes the impact of the order...the head guy goes back to the division and orders a big meeting with all the players, and the lawyers of the agency. The lawyers want the players, and people with info.....to now provide written and signed statements to the head guy. These statements need to reflect the "truth" but also blend into the statements of their associates.
Number three....as you can imagine....these lesser figures now start to sweat because no one ever made them write statements and sign them before. So, that night....they call their lawyer (the $150 an hour local guy). He admits that he's not up on this kind of stuff, but knows a DC lawyer who is (the $300 an hour DC guy). This DC lawyer gives a two hour phone chat to this guy and his local lawyer. The key thing? Don't sign nothing unless you feel comfortable, and it's the truth.
Number four....as the hours pass and the deadline to come back into court starts to get close....the head guy now finds several folks willing to only state a couple of facts and limit their knowledge admitted. The head guy tries to comfort his folks.....they are protected by the lawyers of the agency. No one believes this now.
Number five....over the twenty-four hours before the next judge-to-IRS chief-meeting, there's high tension at the agency. Some folks are thinking of leaving the agency as soon as possible. Some folks have given up doing real work and worried about protecting themselves. The agency lawyers are pulling eighteen hour days....but can only charge eight to ten hours on their time-card. There's some feelings about a US marshall team possibly arriving and conducting a search of their records. So the lawyers are likely cleaning their files as time goes by....to ensure they don't have conflicting evidence or emails in their possession.
My humble guess is that the IRS chief will ask for a delay of ten days once we get to X-day. The judge will have a choice of cooperating or demanding they show up. Hard to say what happens in this case.
If you could find a network covering this and giving minute-by-minute coverage....it'd be kinda interesting to watch. My guess is that no network will cover it, period. Maybe a one-minute update at the end of the day....but nothing much else.
