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Stephen Dinan

Stephen Dinan

Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.

Articles by Stephen Dinan

In this June 2, 2015, file photo, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner John Koskinen testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee hearing examining the IRS data breach. The IRS is joining with state and private industry to combat identity theft by sharing more data about how tax returns are filed and taking other steps, Koskinen announced Thursday, June 11. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File) — FILE

House GOP begins impeachment against IRS chief

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz began the impeachment process against IRS Commissioner John Koskinen on Tuesday, accusing him of misleading the public and destroying documents that were sought under a congressional subpoena. Published October 27, 2015

The deal marks outgoing House Speaker John A. Boehner's last chance to try to win cuts to entitlement spending. Mr. Boehner had promised to try to "clean the barn" of thorny issues so his successor could have smoother sailing. (Associated Press)

Budget deal ‘manure,’ conservative critics say

The new budget deal shaping up on Capitol Hill is already drawing fierce fire from both ends of the political spectrum, with one conservative group calling it "manure." Published October 26, 2015

Justice Department investigators said none of the witnesses they interviewed believed Lois G. Lerner acted out of political motives and that Ms. Lerner seemed to try to correct the inappropriate scrutiny once she "recognized that it was wrong." (Associated Press)

IRS tea party targeting accusations, legal issues persist after Justice ends probe

The IRS is still holding up the nonprofit applications of tea party groups, including one that has been waiting nearly six years for approval, as conservatives panned the Justice Department's announcement last week that it had cleared the tax agency, and former senior executive Lois G. Lerner, of any wrongdoing. Published October 25, 2015

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said only about 331,000 illegal immigrants were caught on the border in fiscal year 2015, which ended last week. That was the lowest number since 2011. When the numbers are finalized, they could dip to rates not seen since the early 1970s. (Associated Press)

Homeland Security says it will abide judge’s order to stop detentions

Homeland Security said it's complying with a court order severely limiting its ability to hold illegal immigrant children and families in detention but wouldn't release details, leaving advocates questioning whether the administration actually met its deadline. Published October 25, 2015

Lois Lerner's emails became an issue after she was singled out as a key figure in the IRS's treatment of tea party and conservative groups who sought tax-exempt status. The IRS improperly delayed hundreds of applications and sent out intrusive questionnaires asking what the agency now says were inappropriate inquiries. (Associated Press)

Lois Lerner will not face charges in Department of Justice investigation

The IRS did mishandle tea party and conservative groups' nonprofit applications, but their behavior didn't break any laws, the Justice Department said in a letter to Congress Friday that cleared the tax agency and former senior executive Lois G. Lerner of any crimes. Published October 23, 2015

Hillary Rodham Clinton has risen 5 percentage points in the RealClearPolitics.com average of national polls of Democratic primary voters in the last 10 days, and is nearing the 50 percent mark yet again. (Associated Press)

Hillary Clinton’s poise in Benghazi testimony boosts 2016 prospects

It's been a good 10 days for Hillary Rodham Clinton. She was widely deemed the winner of the first Democratic debate, chased Jim Webb from the race, headed off her biggest primary threat in Vice President Joseph R. Biden and on Thursday defused the Benghazi time bomb with a performance that had few rough spots for the surging Democratic presidential front-runner. Published October 22, 2015

Democratic presidential candidate, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton listens as she testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015, before the House Benghazi Committee. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Clinton confronted for contradictions on video’s role in Benghazi attack

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton brushed aside emails Thursday that showed she privately told family and world leaders that the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi was a terrorist assault, and said Ambassador Christopher Stevens was responsible for his own decisions regarding skimpy security ahead of his death. Published October 22, 2015

A group of immigrants from Honduras and El Salvador who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally are stopped in Granjeno, Texas, on June 25, 2014. (Associated Press) ** FIL E**

Surge of illegal children, families accelerates

The surge of children and families crossing the southwest border illegally accelerated again in September, leaving fiscal year 2015 the second-worst on record, according to numbers released Wednesday by the Border Patrol. Published October 21, 2015

Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez (right) is led into the courtroom by San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi and Assistant District Attorney Diana Garciaor for his arraignment at the Hall of Justice in San Francisco on July 7, 2015. More than 1,800 immigrants that the federal government wanted to deport were nevertheless released from local jails and later re-arrested for various crimes, according to a government report released July 13, 2015. The controversy was re-ignited after 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle was shot to death while walking on a San Francisco pier and authorities arrested suspect Lopez-Sanchez, who was released from jail in April even though immigration officials had lodged a detainer to try to deport him from the country for a sixth time. (Michael Macor/San Francisco Chronicle via Associated Press)

San Francisco board votes to keep sanctuary city policy

San Francisco officials voted Tuesday to affirm their sanctuary city policy that shields illegal immigrants from being turned over to federal agents, pushing back against the national attention the city garnered after the July death of a woman at the hands of an illegal immigrant. Published October 21, 2015

Demonstrators chant pro-Islamic State group slogans as they wave the group's flags in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad on June 16, 2014. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Islamic State’s recruiting of foreign fighters falters

The number of Americans trying to leave the U.S. to join the Islamic State in Syria has dried up, with just six identified over the last three and a half months, FBI Director James B. Comey told Congress Wednesday. Published October 21, 2015

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden smile in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, March 23, 2010, before the president signed the health care bill. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Obama moves to mainstream illegal immigrant students

The Obama administration Tuesday pushed illegal immigrant youths to enroll in high school and college and announced a list of guarantees in schools and tips to help students apply for scholarships or financial aid. Published October 20, 2015

Father Cameron Faller, of Restorative Justice Ministry, answers questions before a vigil for Kathryn Steinle, Monday, July 6, 2015, on Pier 14 in San Francisco. Steinle was shot and killed on Wednesday, July 1st on Pier 14. Francisco Sanchez was arrested for the shooting. (AP Photo/Beck Diefenbach)

Obama vows to veto sanctuary city crackdown

The White House on Tuesday vowed to veto a bill designed to prevent sanctuary city deaths like the July killing of Kathryn Steinle in San Francisco, saying the solution is to legalize illegal immigrants, not to force cities and counties to cooperate in deporting them. Published October 20, 2015

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen (Associated Press) **FILE**

IRS vows to cut ID fraud in 2016 filing season

Stung by an embarrassing cyber fraud operation this year, the IRS vowed Tuesday to cut down on tax refund identity theft in 2016 with a series of new checks designed to weed out increasing sophisticated crimes. Published October 20, 2015

Sen. Chuck Grassley (Associated Press/File) ** FILE **

Sanctuary cities data scarce, contested ahead of key Senate vote

Kathryn Steinle's death in San Francisco in July has done little to break a years-old stalemate over sanctuary cities, which continue to operate under a haze of complex federal rules, competing court decisions and tricky political recriminations -- but without very much data on either side of the debate. Published October 19, 2015

FILE - In this Jan. 23, 2013 file photo, then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the deadly September attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. The State Department agreed Thursday to review thousands of messages from a private email account that former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton used for official government business, but it cautioned that the process will move slowly and perhaps take months. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Democrats back up Clinton ahead of Benghazi testimony

Democrats ramped up efforts Monday to tarnish the Benghazi investigation as former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton prepares for a momentous public hearing before the panel Thursday, insisting that she will cooperate despite a firm belief that the investigators have little more than her political destruction on their minds. Published October 19, 2015

Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump gestures as he speaks during a rally in Richmond, Va., Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2015. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

‘Dump Trump’ movement grows to cancel ‘Saturday Night Live’ appearance

NBC is under increasing pressure to nix GOP presidential candidate Donald J. Trump's scheduled appearance as host of "Saturday Night Live" early next month, as immigrant-rights groups attempt to flex their economic muscle in what they're calling the "Dump Trump" petition drive. Published October 16, 2015

In this Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015 photo in Sullivan City, Texas, a woman who is in the country illegally shows the footprints of her daughter who was born in the United States but was denied a birth certificate. Lawyers for immigrant families denied birth certificates for their U.S.-born children by Texas health officials who refuse to recognize as valid certain forms of identification will argue for a federal judge to intervene against the state. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Texas can refuse to issue birth certificates to illegals’ parents: court

Texas officials may continue to refuse to issue birth certificates to illegal immigrant parents who aren't able to show valid identification, a federal court ruled Friday, dealing a major blow to Mexican advocates who'd said the policy was in effect stripping them of citizenship. Published October 16, 2015