A secret audio tape of one of Groundswell’s weekly meetings shows that prominent members of the group pressed House Speaker John Boehner and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the chair of the House oversight committee, to expand the Benghazi investigation and make this supposed scandal a top-priority for congressional Republicans. This recording indicates

Groundswell, the conservative behind-the-scenes organization that forms a coalition between prominent Republicans, right wing media, and conservative activists to wage a “30-front war against Obama and progressives” has been revealed to have played a role in the hype and false scandalization of the Benghazi “controversy.” A secret tape released by Crooks And Liars (audio below) has detailed the cooperation between House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Ginni Thomas (the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas), former Rep. Allen West, as well as high-ranking members of Judicial Watch and Breitbart. The meeting was presided over by Catherine Engelbrecht, one of the founders of the voter suppression group, True The Vote.

In the tape, Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy and Jerry Boykin of the Family Research Council are revealed to have met with Boehner and Issa to discuss Benghazi:

A secret audio tape of one of Groundswell’s weekly meetings shows that prominent members of the group pressed House Speaker John Boehner and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the chair of the House oversight committee, to expand the Benghazi investigation and make this supposed scandal a top-priority for congressional Republicans. This recording indicates Groundswell’s mission extends beyond message coordination to scandal-stoking. (Mother Jones)

Also in the tape, which covers the first 20 minutes of a Groundswell meeting, they also reveal that GOP congresspeople are willing, albeit reluctantly, to raise the debt ceiling, which may be excellent news for future Washington negotiations. Unfortunately, however, they also discussed their war on voting rights — insanely accusing the left of being the political force attempting to disenfranchise voters.

Crooks And Liars reports:

During the meeting, True the Vote made a presentation (document below) about their plan to attack groups who are actively working to protect voting rights around the country, particularly after the Supreme Court gutted most of the protections. Code-named “Hydra”, True the Vote argues that the left is undermining voting rights, and must be stopped, by hook or by crook.

Here’s an excerpt from their laughable (but dangerous) Hydra propaganda:

Yes, they’re seriously saying that the left’s mission to extend early voting time and promote youth registration is undermining democracy — and is a war on voting rights. Meanwhile, they’re enacting laws that make it extremely difficult for minorities and other marginalized groups to vote, purposefully and admittedly preventing Democratic constituents from reaching the polls. Not only that, but the war they’re fighting against voter fraud is imaginary — there are hardly any documented cases of voter fraud, and none that are widespread. There is no cause and no enemy — sort of like another war perpetrated by the right.

True The Vote and Groundswell also played an interesting role in the false IRS scandal, when conservatives exploded in rage after the IRS investigated the tax-free status of obviously conservatively partisan nonprofits, despite later finding out that progressive groups were targeted as well.

Crooks And Liars establishes a timeline of events, showing the role of political operatives in engineering the false scandal:

On May 8, 2013, True the Vote is a facilitator and presenter at a meeting where Ginni Thomas and others are key players. TTV presents their plan to attack “the left” for daring to register voters. They’re committed to stopping them from challenging any and all efforts to disenfranchise voters. Or as they describe it, securing the vote. Others might call it democracy corrupted.

On May 9, 2013 the IRS “scandal” breaks after Lois Lerner plants a question in a conference Q&A about IRS “targeting.”

On May 21, 2013, True the Vote, represented by ActRight Legal Foundation, sues the IRS for not granting their tax-exempt status and targeting them for their beliefs. ActRight Legal Foundation uses Cleta Mitchell as one of their consulting attorneys. Mitchell is a well-known and very high profile litigator on behalf of conservative causes. There are very few conservative nonprofits that don’t have Mitchell’s fingerprints all over them.

Another interesting note — besides the obvious partisanship of True The Vote, as seen in their Hydra document below  – is that True The Vote was also under investigation by Congress for voter suppression when the IRS investigation and subsequent “scandal” came about.

Here’s the audio from the Groundswell meeting: