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Paul L. Caron
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Monday, July 13, 2015

The IRS Scandal, Day 795

IRS Logo 2Tribune-Review, Another IRS 'Oops': Hardly Credible:

It was “an unbelievable set of circumstances” that led to the erasure of backup tapes of Lois G. Lerner's emails after a congressional subpoena sought these records in an investigation of the tax agency's targeting of tea party and conservative groups. Or so says the IRS' deputy inspector general.

In literature and in cinema, this would be referred to as suspension of disbelief. For the Obama administration in its dealings with Congress, it's business as usual.

As the script goes, Ms. Lerner formerly led the IRS agency accused in the targeting scandal. Once an investigation commenced, the IRS informed Congress that, by golly, her computer had suffered a debilitating hard drive crash and that her emails were lost.

Backup computer tapes of the sought emails later turned up. But — oops! — about 24,000 emails might have been permanently lost to erasure, The Washington Times reports. Of the 1,000 recovered emails that the IRS didn't turn over to Congress, none pertain to the targeting, according to the IG. Imagine that.

Why, nobody “did anything intentionally to hinder our investigation,” said Democrat Rep. Elijah E. Cummings.

A crashed hard drive. Now erased backup tapes. It is not unreasonable to suspect the destruction of evidence amid a succession of excuses during a two-year investigation. Congress must redouble its efforts to get to the bottom of this.

Newsmax, Judicial Watch's Fitton: More Lois Lerner Emails on the Way:

The IRS is dragging its feet on the court-ordered release of newly-discovered emails to and from Lois Lerner, the ex-agency official who allegedly targeted tea party groups seeking tax-exempt status, Tom Fitton, president of the government watchdog Judicial Watch, tells Newsmax TV.

"The government found 1,400-plus new Lois Lerner emails. Remember those emails that were deleted and weren't recoverable on backup tapes? Well, they weren't deleted, they were recoverable and they were on backup tapes," Fitton said Friday on "The Steve Malzberg Show." ...

Fitton said other Lerner emails that have been released thus far are "astonishing." "They provide an exhaustive account of a meeting that Lois Lerner and other IRS folks had with the Department of Justice.... It wasn't just the IRS stalling tea party applications, it was the Justice Department and the FBI talking about prosecuting these very groups," he said.

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2015/07/the-irs-scandal-day-795.html

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Comments

Ahh gator, how do you explain OFA and their barackobama.com site getting speedy nonprofit approval? Democrats are not playing by the same rules they want to hold others too.

And no, the victims didn't deserve what happened to them because you don't like them.

Posted by: wodun | Jul 14, 2015 12:29:11 PM

Give it a rest! This is going nowhere because there is nowhere to go. The IRS should have been slow in approving these applications and some should probably be investigate by DOJ.

Posted by: gator | Jul 14, 2015 6:55:49 AM

I have said it before but this is exactly like Jim Crow. In light of the current controversy over the confederate battle flag, it is important to realize that the Democrat party has been attacking the civil liberties of people they dislike, in order to make them subhuman third class citizens, for generations.

Not gonna take it. Its time to fight back against the corruption and the Jim Crow Democrat party. Any Democrat with a shred of decency is welcome in the fight, after all it is your party that needs a reformation

Posted by: wodun | Jul 13, 2015 10:48:27 AM