Goolsbee's Mysterious Tweet About the Koch Brothers' Taxes

◼ What Did Austan Goolsbee Know, and How Did He Know It? - Robert Stacy McCain/Viral Read

President Obama‘s burgeoning IRS scandal has developed many strange twists — there were new revelations today about the tax agency’s harassment of targets on the White House’s enemies list — but perhaps no twist is stranger than the shadow of suspicion cast on former presidential economic advisor Austan Goolsbee.

In August 2010, when the Tea Party movement was on the verge of wiping out Nancy Pelosi‘s Democrat congressional majority, Goolsbee told reporters that Koch Industries paid no corporate income tax. Libertarian philanthropists Charles Koch and David Koch were being attacked by the White House at that time for their funding of non-profit groups that supported the Tea Party, such as Americans for Prosperity.

Once it became know that Internal Revenue Service officials had engaged in “inappropriate” targeting of applications by Tea Party groups for federal non-profit status, Goolsbee’s claim of knowledge about the Kochs’ private business got renewed scrutiny. Two weeks ago, Goolsbee sent out a Twitter explanation, asserting that his information came from a newspaper article. But after Goolsbee’s Tweet was quoted in a Slate.com article by David Weigel — poof! –the Tweet got deleted.

What is Goolsbee trying to hide? Was the Obama administration illegally using the IRS to secretly pry into its enemies’ private finances? John McCormack of the Weekly Standard intends to get some answers...

◼ Why did a former White House official delete a statement about Koch Industries taxes? - John McCormack/Weekly Standard

In August 2010, Austan Goolsbee, serving at the time as economic adviser to President Obama, told reporters during an anonymous background briefing that Koch Industries doesn't pay corporate income taxes. That statement was made at the same time that top Democrats, including President Obama himself, were demonizing Charles and David Koch, the owners of Koch Industries, for giving money to Tea Party groups. Goolsbee's remark led to a federal investigation, the results of which have never been released.