U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann will speak today at a rally protesting the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative political groups
In an email to supporters, Tea Party leaders billed the "Audit the IRS" rally as their largest demonstration since 2010 and an event that will "tell the world about how the IRS tried to crush the Tea Party."
Beginning in March 2010, the IRS singled out conservative groups resulting in lengthy delays in the processing of their applications for tax-exempt status. High-ranking IRS leaders denied the targeting until the agency's inspector general released a report in May exposing the practice.
"We are energized more than we have ever been before, because it's very clear from the Obama administration ... that the Tea Party was a very strong threat," Bachmann said in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday.
"We saw the machinery of government being used to punish political enemies of this administration and also used at the same time to reward political allies of the administration. That can't go on."
Radio host Glenn Beck and Republican U.S. senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas are also scheduled to speak at the noon rally on the east lawn of the U.S. Capitol.
The protest will "send a very strong signal to this administration that we're watching, we're not going to take it ...," said Bachmann, who chairs the House Tea Party Caucus.
Here's a look at the video from Bachmann's Fox News interview on Tuesday:
