The investigation into Paz and Kastenberg comes weeks after [Billy] Long became commissioner and months after two reports by the American Accountability Foundation were published by the Washington Examiner.
Paz is commissioner of the Large Business and International Division and Kastenberg is acting director of the Office of Professional Responsibility.
The reports say IRS units managed by Paz and Kastenberg include multiple critics of President Donald Trump. Paz and Kastenberg also have ties to a 2012 controversy in which the IRS tax-exempt division subjected conservative nonprofit applications to extra scrutiny.
“AAF has long been focused on the cadre of career civil servants who undermine the agenda that the American people voted for in November,” Thomas Jones, who leads the American Accountability Foundation, said in an email last week. “Getting rid of leaders who weaponized the IRS against citizens is a good start and we are hopeful Billy Long goes deeper and roots out the endemic corruption at the IRS.”
Longtime IRS staffers Holly Paz and Elizabeth Kastenberg are being investigated for their alleged conduct against Republicans, a person familiar with the situation according to reporting by Bloomberg Law.
According to the AAF report, the Large Business and International Division (LB&I) is one of the largest and most powerful departments of the IRS and it’s currently being led by Democrats and fierce critics of President Trump.
Led by Holly Paz - a partisan Democrat who allegedly targeted conservatives under the Obama Administration – LB&I is made up of Trump Administration opponents who have promoted content referring to the president as “treasonous” and “deranged.”
AAF reported out of forty leadership positions within LB&I, just two Republicans were found within the department.
The tilt towards Democrats, liberals, and Trump critics is currently at an unsustainable level and leaves open the possibility that management could bring about another scandal that targets supporters of the president and conservatives.
Multiple employees in leadership positions have reposted content disparaging President Trump as “treasonous” and “deranged.” One IRS leader liked a post that likened President Trump to a fascist Numerous IRS Officials are Kamala Harris donors and have contributed to causes like Stop Republicans.
The Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) is tasked with ensuring ethical conduct within the IRS, but its current leadership raises serious concerns about political bias and a troubling lack of balance.
Acting Director Elizabeth Kastenberg previously worked closely with Lois Lerner in the IRS’s nonprofit division during the Obama-era Tea Party targeting scandal. Congressional testimony confirms Kastenberg oversaw audits of conservative-leaning organizations and was present during key decisions that led to one of largest government scandals in recent history.
Now, she’s in charge of enforcing ethics across the entire agency.
One of her top deputies, Jacqueline M. Bennett, also has a well-documented record of partisan activism. Public posts show Bennett has attended anti-Trump protests, attacked the GOP, opposed the Second Amendment, and aligned herself with a range of progressive causes—including abortion rights and LGBTQ+ activism. Bennett’s social media presence reflects an active hostility toward President Trump and conservative beliefs.
Of the four officials currently leading OPR, two have histories of left-wing political activity. No evidence of conservative representation could be found.
Highlights from AAF’s findings:
• Acting Director Elizabeth Kastenberg was a key figure during the Tea Party targeting scandal. She oversaw audits of conservative nonprofits and participated in high-level decisions under Lois Lerner’s direction
• Kastenberg admitted the IRS targeting scandal was directly due to political affiliation
• Jacqueline M. Bennett has promoted content calling President Trump a “draft- dodging coward” and the comparing the Trump Administration to Nazi Germany in 1933
• Bennett’s social media activity includes involvement in anti-Trump protests, opposition to Second Amendment rights, possible sympathies for HAMAS, support for progressive causes, and calls for extreme measures against political opponents
AAF’s reports on Kastenberg and Paz disclose that 13-years after the Lois Lerner scandal, because there were no consequences for the malefactors and their subordinates and coconspirators were not purged, the IRS and many other federal agencies have not been reformed and returned to nonpolitical administration of our government.
- American Accountability Foundation (AAF)
- Holly Paz and Elizabeth Kastenberg
- Deep State
- IRS units
- Donald Trump organization
- Executive agencies
- whistleblowers
- Trump critics
- federal bureaucracy
- Democrat deep state
- Lois Lerner
- Jacqueline M. Bennett
- social media
