IRS missing emails not only for Lois Lerner, but also six other officials
Pete Marovich
The IRS contends a computer crash erased archived emails for Lois Lerner, the central figure in the agency's targeting of conservative nonprofit groups for extra scrutiny.
Computer crash or coverup? The plot thickens over missing emails at the Internal Revenue Service, with news that the agency is missing emails not only for Lois Lerner, but also six other IRS officials possibly involved in the targeting of conservative groups.
The IRS contends a 2011 computer crash deleted the archived emails of Lerner, who headed the agency division that oversees tax-exempt organizations. Lerner ignited a firestorm when she disclosed that the agency had given extra scrutiny to applications for tax-exempt status from groups with “Tea Party” or “Patriot” in their names.
This led to a series of congressional investigations and Lerner refusing to testify, pleading her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Lerner is long gone from the IRS, but House committees are still trying to get at the bottom of what happened. On Friday, the IRS informed the House Ways and Means Committee of Lerner’s missing emails. On Tuesday the committee announced that the IRS can’t produce requested records for six other agency officials either, including the chief of staff for the agency’s deputy commissioner. That’s important because the missing emails for this official, Nikole Flax, include the period when IRS headquarters was communicating with its Cincinnati field office about its “abusive questionnaires” to conservative groups, the committee contends.
Plus, committee investigators discovered the IRS knew about these missing emails as early as February, but didn’t disclose that fact to the committee then.
“It looks like the American people were lied to and the IRS tried to cover up the fact it conveniently lost key documents in this investigation,” said committee leaders Rep. Dave Camp, R-Michigan, and Rep. Charles Boustany, R-La., in a joint statement. “The White House promised full cooperation, the commissioner promised full access to Lois Lerner emails, and now the agency claims it cannot produce those materials and they’ve known for months they couldn’t do this.”
Flax was a frequent visitor to the White House, the two Republicans note.
“Who was she visiting at the White House and what were they talking about?” they ask. “Was she updating the White House on the targeting or was she getting orders? These are answers we don’t yet have, because — surprise, surprise — a few computers crashed. Plot lines in Hollywood are more believable than what we are getting from this White House and the IRS.”
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