The IRS Scandal, Day 794

Nonprofit Quarterly, IRS Lois Lerner Emails Impossible to Find or Save:

Yesterday, NPQ published a newswire based on an editorial that speculated that it would be difficult to address the dark money issues in 501(c)(4) nonprofits this election season because of the targeting scandal of the IRS. This, of course, is not helped by the fact that the inquiry drags on and on.

Last week’s Treasury Inspector General’s update to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Lois Lerner’s missing emails was unsatisfying to all parties. Early estimates of tens of thousands of possible emails being found that relate to the IRS scandal were subsequently reduced to 6,000 and ultimately to about 1,000. Meanwhile, the TIGTA’s office reported that as many as 24,000 emails may be permanently lost.

The IRS had promised for more than a year to respond fully to a subpoena and produce all Lerner emails. After a long delay, the IRS ultimately reported the emails to have been lost due to computer hardware failures. However, the TIGTA’s office later found more than 700 backup tapes (not produced by the IRS in response to the subpoena) that may have included the Lerner emails under subpoena. Almost all of the tapes had been erased and the data unrecoverable.

The investigators’ interviews with IRS personnel discovered no willful intent to destroy evidence. The tapes were handled in accordance with IRS policy and procedures for the handling of confidential material, and the personnel involved in the destruction claimed no knowledge of the subpoenas and the potential relevance of the materials destroyed.

Democrats on the committee continue to point out that there is no evidence of political bias as a motivation for the IRS’s targeting and that there is no demonstrated link to the White House. They cite the more than 160,000 labor hours and $20 million spent by the IRS to comply with investigators’ demands as a distraction from customer service and other IRS priorities. Democrats and the Treasury investigators both complained about leaks from committee Republicans citing the early numbers of possible emails. Republicans continue to be enraged about the slow IRS response and apparent unwillingness to take the investigations seriously, despite credible evidence of IRS malfeasance that, by definition, targeted “Tea Party” and other conservative-sounding organizations in the wake of the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling in early 2010.

At the very least, the IRS’s procedures for responding to subpoenas for electronic evidence have been demonstrated to be seriously deficient. In addition, the IRS’s destruction of electronic records may violate the Federal Records Act, which mandates the archiving of all government communications under the ultimate supervision of the Archivist of the United States.

The IRS’s targeting of conservative-sounding tax-exempt organizations, first reported publicly in May 2013, prompted several simultaneous and ongoing investigations that have awaited production of subpoenaed emails to and from Lerner. Lerner was the Director of the Exempt Organizations (EO) Unit of the IRS from 2006 until being placed on unpaid administrative and ultimately retiring from the IRS in 2013. Lerner is believed to have been a key figure in the IRS scandal, based on the TIGTA’s May 2013 initial audit report and upon evidence subsequently produced.

To add more unfortunate fodder for the conspiracy theorists, there is now a link between the IRS scandal and the Congressional investigation surrounding the attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012. Catherine Duval, the IRS attorney responsible for supervising the production of the Lerner emails, has been transferred to the State Department, where she now oversees the production of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails to the House committee investigating Benghazi.

• The IRS Scandal, Day 793 (July 11, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 792 (July 10, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 791 (July 9, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 790 (July 8, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 789 (July 7, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 788 (July 6, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 787 (July 5, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 786 (July 4, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 785 (July 3, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 784 (July 2, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 783 (July 1, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 782 (June 30, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 781 (June 29, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 780 (June 29, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 779 (June 27, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 778 (June 26, 2015)
• 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)