The IRS Scandal, Day 778

Wall Street Journal, Former IRS Official’s Email Lost When Backup Tapes Routinely Erased:

Thousands of missing emails from former Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner, a central focus of lawmakers’ probes into the alleged targeting of tea-party groups starting in early 2010, were lost when backup digital tapes were erased last year, the agency’s inspector general has found in an investigation.

The emails were first lost when Ms. Lerner—then the head of the tax-exempt division of the IRS—suffered a hard-drive crash in mid-2011.

Investigators had hoped to find the missing emails in backup tapes.

Now it turns out that 422 backup tapes from the crucial period were routinely erased by IRS workers. The tapes were destroyed in March 2014, according to the Treasury inspector general for the IRS, J. Russell George. That is long after lawmakers started trying to obtain all of Ms. Lerner’s emails, and long after the IRS issued instructions for employees to cease routine destruction of documents that might relate to the probes.

The finding means that much of the mystery surrounding alleged IRS targeting of tea party groups likely will continue. It could also raise difficult new questions for IRS managers, including Commissioner John Koskinen.

“There was a [document] preservation order in place” that the IRS “never complied with,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R., Utah), the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, at a hearing on Thursday morning. “They destroyed evidence. That’s what they did.”

The tapes could contain as many as 24,000 additional emails, Mr. George said in

Mr. George’s probe also showed that the IRS didn't search for several potential sources of emails, including the backup tapes, after the hard-drive crash became known. Even some Democrats said they were troubled.

“I’m concerned too as to why things were not looked into,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings (D., Md.), the top Democrat on the panel. “That really does concern me.”

• Testimony, J. Russell George (Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration) & Timothy P. Camus (Deputy Inspector General for Investigations, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration)
• The Blaze, White House ‘Absolutely’ Stands by Obama’s ‘Not Even a Smidgeon of Corruption’ in IRS After New Probe Says 24,000 Emails Were Destroyed
• Breitbart, Investigators: IRS Employees Who Deleted Thousands of Key Emails Merely ‘Incompetent’
• CNN, IRS Watchdog: Up to 24,000 Missing Lois Lerner Emails
• Daily Caller, Lois Lerner’s Hard Drive Was SHREDDED
• Daily Signal, IRS Employees Erased 422 Backup Tapes Containing 24,000 of Lois Lerner’s Emails
• Fox News, Watchdog Reveals Evidence Was Destroyed During Probe of IRS Targeting
• The Hill, Watchdog: IRS Improperly Destroyed Lerner Email Backups
• Investor's Business Daily, More Lerner Emails Destroyed – Just An Accident, Right?
• New York Times, Watchdog Blames IRS Incompetence for Lost Tea Party Emails
• Newsmax, Judge Demands More Answers From IRS
• Town Hall, IRS Deleted Hundreds of Back-up Tapes Containing Thousands of Lerner Emails After Congressional Subpeona Was Issued
• U.S. News & World Report, Investigators Blame Low-level IRS Workers in W. Va. For Erasing Thousands of Tea Party Emails
• Washington Examiner, IRS Permanently Destroyed Up to 24,000 Lerner Emails After Subpoena
• Washington Free Beacon, Former IRS Official’s Emails Lost, Backups Erased
• Washington Free Beacon, Lois Lerner Hard Drive ‘Likely Crashed Due To An Impact’
• Washington Times, IRS Erased Lerner Emails Even After Subpoena: Audit

• The IRS Scandal, Day 777 (June 25, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 776 (June 24, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 775 (June 23, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 774 (June 22, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 773 (June 21, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 772 (June 20, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 771 (June 19, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 770 (June 18, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 769 (June 17, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 768 (June 16, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 767 (June 15, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 766 (June 14, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 765 (June 13, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 764 (June 12, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 763 (June 11, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 762 (June 10, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 761 (June 9, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 760 (June 8, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 759 (June 7, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 758 (June 6, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 757 (June 5, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 756 (June 4, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 755 (June 3, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 754 (June 2, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 753 (June 1, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 752 (May 31, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 751 (May 30, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 750 (May 29, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 749 (May 28, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 748 (May 27, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 747 (May 26, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 746 (May 25, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 745 (May 24, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 744 (May 23, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 743 (May 22, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 742 (May 21, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 741 (May 20, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 740 (May 19, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 739 (May 18, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 738 (May 17, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 737 (May 16, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 736 (May 15, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 735 (May 14, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 734 (May 13, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 733 (May 12, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 732 (May 11, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 731 (May 10, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Two Years And Counting (May 9, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 729 (May 8, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 728 (May 7, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 727 (May 6, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 726 (May 5, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 725 (May 4, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 724 (May 3, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 723 (May 2, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 722 (May 1, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 721 (Apr. 30, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 720 (Apr. 29, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 719 (Apr. 28, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 718 (Apr. 27, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 717 (Apr. 26, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 716 (Apr. 25, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 715 (Apr. 24, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 714 (Apr. 23, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 713 (Apr. 22, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 712 (Apr. 21, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 711 (Apr. 20, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 710 (Apr. 19, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 709 (Apr. 18, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 708 (Apr. 17, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 707 (Apr. 16, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 706 (Apr. 15, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 705 (Apr. 14, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 704 (Apr. 13, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 703 (Apr. 12, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 702 (Apr. 11, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 701 (Apr. 10, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 601-700 (Dec. 31, 2014 - April 9, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 501-600 (Sept. 22, 2014-Dec. 30, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 401-500 (June 14, 2014 - Sept. 21,2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 301-400 (Mar. 6, 2014 - June 13, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 201-300 (Nov. 26, 2013 - Mar. 5, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 101-200 (Aug. 18, 2013 - Nov. 25, 2013)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 1-100 (May 10, 2013 - Aug. 17, 2013)