Republican lawmakers blasted IRS commissioner John Koskinen at a congressional hearing Friday after learning the agency would not be able to produce thousands of promised emails of former official Lois Lerner due to a crashed hard drive. (Via HLN)
The IRS told members of Congress earlier this week that the hard drive of Lois Lerner, the former head of the tax-exempt status division, had been thrown away in 2011 after crashing. (Via ABC)
Politico reports two sources citing IRS officials told them the same thing, explaining Lerner's hard drive had been "recycled" as was standard procedure after IT experts were unable to recover its contents. Politico's Rachel Bade writes, "It may just be standard government procedure, but the revelation is significant."
For the record, IRS documents showed liberal groups were also targeted, showing that the agency had scrutinized political action groups of all kinds, not just conservatives. (Via CNN)
Some Republicans believe the additional scrutiny may have been politically motivated and say that if there is a smoking gun connecting the White House to the scandal, it's likely somewhere in Lerner's emails sent between 2009 and 2011. (Via NPR, The Christian Science Monitor)
Former White House Press Secretary Jay Carney denied that claim, telling reporters there was no communication between the Obama administration and Lerner during that time.
Contesting the idea of an IRS cover up, Koskinen explains emails were sent at the time demonstrating Lerner requested assistance from the agency's criminal investigation division to retrieve her emails after her computer crashed. (Via CBS)
About the Author
