GRUBER: The problem is it’s a political nightmare, and people say ‘no, you can’t tax my benefits’…so what we did a lot in that room was think a lot about well how could we make this work? … And [Obama] is really a realistic guy. He was like, ‘look, I can’t just do this.’ He said ‘it’s just not going to happen politically. The bill will not pass. How do we manage to get there through phase-ins and other things?’ And we talked about it. He was just very interested in that topic.
There is a fair case to be made for fraud - using untruths to extract money from another party (us) - or even conspiracy to commit fraud as well because of the numbers of people actively collaborating in the endeavor. The problem is who can bring the case as an injured party, and who will prosecute it - not many likely candidates in Obama's Social Justice Dept.
but it seems to me that this makes out the five elements of fraud - a false representation of fact, knowledge that the representation was false, intent to deceive, reasonable reliance by those deceived, and such reliance resulting in loss to them.
Of course, nothing will happen as a consequence, but ...
BUT OF COURSE: UH OH: Obama: ’Like Your Plan, Keep Your Plan.’ Gruber, 2009: ‘Five Million People Will Lose Their Plan.’ They knew it was a lie all along.
Related: Marc Thiessen: Thanks To Jonathan Gruber, Americans Know What The Political Class Thinks Of them.