Stockman Asks for Subpoena of White House, IRS Phone Records Under “Perfectly Legal” PRISM Program

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Dean Garrison

On Tuesday Representative Steve Stockman (R-TX) asked the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee to subpoena all National Security Agency records of phone calls between employees of the White House and the Internal Revenue Service.
In typical Stockman-style he sarcastically pointed out the obvious stating, “Obama assures the public he only collected this information to uncover wrongdoing and protect civil liberties. Clearly he would want us to use it to investigate this case, because otherwise he’d be lying.”
Stockman’s office hand delivered a letter Tuesday afternoon to the Committee’s office requesting a subpoena “of all records of every phone call made from all public and private telephones of all IRS personnel to all public and private telephones of all White House personnel” collected under the NSA’s recently-revealed PRISM program.
“This case must be investigated fully, given admitted wrongdoing by the IRS, its potentially criminal implications and revelations the White House has been less than honest about what they knew and when,” said Stockman.  “Obama says the PRISM program is perfectly legal, so there should be no problem whatsoever in providing the information on White House and IRS phone calls.”
In addition to the hand delivered copy, Stockman’s office also electronically delivered the same letter to the Homeland Security Committee chaired by Rep. Michael McCaul.
Here is the text of Stockman’s letter as addressed to Darrell Issa:

June 11, 2013
The Honorable Darrell Issa
Chairman, House Committee on Government Reform & Oversight
2157 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C.  20515
Chairman Issa:
Thank you for your ongoing efforts to investigate abuses of civil liberties by employees of the Internal Revenue Service.
These abuses seem to indicate a larger, higher pattern of ideologically-driven harassment of Americans which Congress has an obligation to fully investigate with every tool at our disposal.
Frankly I am disappointed by revelations Obama administration personnel have been less than forward about what they knew and when they knew it.
As you know, recent revelations the National Security Agency has been keeping an “ongoing, daily” log of every domestic phone call in the United States.
I respectfully request your Committee subpoena the records of every phone call made from all public and private telephones of all IRS personnel to all public and private telephones of all White House personnel.
If President Obama is collecting such information, he certainly would want us to use it.  If he has nothing to hide he has nothing to be afraid of.
Warmest wishes,
STEVE STOCKMAN
Member of Congress

I can not go a single day without checking Steve Stockman’s congressional site for updates. I am not sure that we could deal with 535 Steve Stockman types in Washington but I would certainly be in favor of having several more like him.
There is never a dull moment with the brash Texan. His points are all very solid but it remains to be seen if they will be taken seriously.
Stockman sums it up perfectly by saying, “If Obama has nothing to hide he has nothing to fear.”http://dcclothesline.com/2013/06/12/stockman-asks-for-subpoena-of-white-house-irs-phone-records-under-perfectly-legal-prism-program/