TaxProf Blog

Paul L. Caron
Dean





Friday, July 18, 2014

The IRS Scandal, Day 435

IRS Logo 2Forbes:  Despite Yearlong Investigation Of IRS, DOJ Just Learned Of Lost Emails From News Media, by Robert W. Wood:

For over a year now, the DOJ and FBI have been investigating the IRS targeting scandal. Yet a DOJ lawyer testified before a Congressional committee that even a year into its investigation, DOJ had no advance notice of the 2 years’ worth of emails the IRS says went missing years ago. ...

[T]his is astonishing. On June 13, 2014, the IRS admitted that it lost Lois Lerner’s emails from January 2009 through April 2011. DOJ says it learned of the missing emails after June 13, 2014 from the media! Oh, those two-years’ worth of emails to and from the key IRS figure who refused to testify to Congress about her job as a top IRS official? They covered the precise period of time when the alleged IRS targeting of Tea Party groups took place.

Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis asked Deputy Attorney General James Cole, “So you actually read about it in the press and nobody in the IRS ever went to the Justice Department to give you a heads-up, knowing you were conducting the investigation that some evidence may have been destroyed?”

“Not before the 13th of June,” Cole replied. “I think we learned about it after that, from press accounts,” Mr. Cole told House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee chairman Rep. Jim Jordan. Rep. Jordan pressed Mr. Cole, “Is it a big deal to you Mr. Cole, a big deal to the Justice Department that the head of the Internal Revenue Service waited two months to tell the United States Congress, two months to tell the American people, and, most importantly, two months to tell the FBI and the Justice Department that they had lost Lois Lerner’s emails?”

Mr. Cole’s response seemed practically Presidential, “It depends on what the circumstances were behind,” Cole responded. The whole story may eventually come out, but the investigation has taken on a decidedly pale complection. Now there’s a new DOJ investigation underway into the IRS missing emails. One might wonder if it will ever turn up even a smidgen of corruption.

Meanwhile, a federal court may prove to be tougher. In a suit against the IRS brought by Judicial Watch, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ordered the IRS to explain what happened to Lois Lerner’s emails. The DOJ has done its best to avoid having to explain much of anything to anyone.

It is another seedy chapter that casts further doubt on the tax system. In 2013, the IRS targeting scandal was already brewing, and Ms. Lerner asked an IT specialist at the IRS if the IRS saved texts? They are not saved automatically, came the response, but since saving them was possible, be careful. “Perfect,” Ms. Lerner answered.

So the switch to texts was an even better way to adopt the IRS version of Moscow Rules. Even President Obama’s new IRS Commissioner Koskinen testified that he was completely unaware of the instant-messaging system. Still, he told a House committee he didn’t think Ms. Lerner’s response about the texts meant she was happy that IRS instant messages weren’t saved. ‘Perfect’ must mean different things to different people.

Forbes

Wall Street Journal:  Justice Department Learned of Lost IRS Emails From Press, Official Says:

Justice Department officials didn't learn until June that the Internal Revenue Service had lost two years' worth of emails that could shed light on the agency's treatment of conservative groups, a top Justice official said.

Deputy Attorney General James Cole told a congressional panel Thursday that the agency learned from press accounts in June that the IRS had lost the emails. The Justice Department announced more than a year earlier, in May 2013, that it was investigating the alleged IRS targeting of conservative groups, after an inspector general found tea-party groups faced unusual scrutiny and lengthy delays as they sought tax-exempt status.

Republicans said the disclosure supports their claim that the Justice Department hasn't been aggressive in pursuing its investigation of the matter.

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2014/07/the-irs-4.html

IRS News, IRS Scandal, Tax | Permalink

Comments