Paul L. Caron
Dean





Friday, September 30, 2016

The IRS Scandal, Day 1240

IRS Logo 2Letter To House Judiciary Committee Chair Bob Goodlatte and Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (Sept. 20, 2016):

As you know, certain Republican members of Congress have renewed their effort to impeach Commissioner Koskinen in recent weeks, and their core accusation is that Commissioner Koskinen ordered the destruction of documents to conceal them from congressional and law enforcement investigators. ...

The fundamental problem with this accusation is that there is no evidence to support it. To the contrary, this specific allegation has been investigated and debunked by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, which is led by J. Russell George, who formerly served as a Republican staff member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. 

On June 30, 2015, the Inspector General's office issued a Report of Investigation entitled "Exempt Organizations Data Loss" (#54-1406-008-I). According to this report, the Inspector General's staff interviewed 118 witnesses—far more than the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Ways and Means Committee, or the Judiciary Committee—and they reviewed emails from employees in Martinsburg, West Virginia, where two low-level employees recycled, or "degaussed," backup tapes that included emails from lois Lerner.

In its report last year, the Inpsector General's office concluded:  "No evidence was uncovered that any IRS employees had been directed to destroy or hide information from Congress, the DOJ, or TIGTA." ...

We urge all Members to consider the evidence that has been obtained and the conclusions that several previous investigations have made in this case after reviewing a much more substantial record. If the Judiciary Committee decides to continue down this path with additional hearings, then we suggest that you invite the Inspector General to testify about his findings and the extensive investigation his office has conducted on this matter.

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2016/09/the-irs-scandal-day-1240.html

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Comments

The fundamental problem with this accusation is that there is no evidence to support it.

Except those records were destroyed after the IRS was ordered to produce them and that Koskinen lied to Congress about it.

If Obama gave an internationally televised speech ordering the IRS to do what they did, these corrupt Democrats would say there was no evidence he did so.

Posted by: wodun | Sep 30, 2016 8:25:56 PM

There's lots of evidence there was a cover up. Thousands of deleted emails and backup tapes. Several personal computers "crashed". Mr. Magoo blocked, obfuscated, denied, and lied about them. He needs to go. And so does our intrepid press that ignored this huge scandal for the last four years. A shame what's happened to our "free" media in this country. They're in the tank for the Democrats.

Posted by: VoteOutIncumbents | Sep 30, 2016 8:33:58 AM