IRS claims it has LOST two years' worth of emails from former official Lerner

[Wilikon]

If we we're audited do you think the "my hard drive crashed" would be a valid reason to get out of it?  The chance of anybody going to jail for this is sadly next to none.  The only possible charges I could see sticking at this point would be tampering with evidence though I doubt they would even hold them responsible for the "hard drive failures".  At this point it seems the best outcome would be for I.R.S record keeping to become heavily mandated but I think we have a better chance of recovering the first Malaysian airplane that was lost at sea.  Thanks for keeping this thread updated!

No problem. I did not know the updates were going bad to worse than often...

[Wilikon]

Lerner Hard Drive Was "Scratched"
IRS ignored advice to use outside experts to recover data

Despite early refusals to make available IT professionals who worked on Lois Lerner’s computer, Ways and Means Committee investigators have now learned from interviews that the hard drive of former IRS Exempt Organizations Director Lois Lerner was “scratched,” but data was recoverable. In fact, in-house professionals at the IRS recommended the Agency seek outside assistance in recovering the data. That information conflicts with a July 18, 2014 court filing by the Agency, which stated the data on the hard drive was unrecoverable – including multiple years’ worth of missing emails…

It is also unknown whether the scratch was accidental or deliberate, but former federal law enforcement and Department of Defense forensic experts consulted by the Committee say that most of the data on a scratched drive, such as Lerner’s, should have been recoverable. However, in a declaration filed last Friday by the IRS, the agency said it tried but failed to recover the data, but is not sure what happened to the hard drive afterwards other than saying they believe it was recycled, which, according to the court filing means “shredded.”

Further complicating the situation, the Committee’s investigation has revealed evidence that this declaration may not be accurate. A review of internal IRS IT tracking system documents revealed that Lerner’s computer was actually once described as “recovered.” In a transcribed interview on July 18, IRS IT employees were unable to confirm the accuracy of the documents or the meaning of the entry “recovered.”


http://waysandmeans.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=388731

----------------------------------------------------
"... Not even a smidgen bla bla bla blaaaa...."

[Wilikon]

Good News: Lois Lerner's "Lost" Emails Might Not Be Lost

The IRS may be changing its tune a little bit when it comes to former head of tax exempt groups Lois Lerner's "lost" emails. IRS Deputy Associate Chief Counsel Thomas Kane testified yesterday on Capitol Hill that all of the emails may not have been destroyed and that IRS officials need more time to look into what emails they still have.

According to Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell Issa, they're not sure yet what emails are still available for review and that further investigation is necessary. However, Issa said in an interview with Greta Van Susteren last night that there are more crashed hard drives at the IRS and that many questions surrounding Lerner's correspondence with other IRS officials and employees remain.

"They don't know what they should know because they haven't even looked and even today they're giving us ambiguous answers," Issa said.

Yesterday former advisor to President Bill Clinton, Lanny Davis, called for a special prosecutor to look into the IRS scandal.


http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2014/07/22/good-news-lois-lerners-lost-emails-might-not-be-lost-n1864567?utm_source=BreakingOnTownhallWidget_4&utm_medium=story&utm_campaign=BreakingOnTownhall

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"...former advisor to President Bill Clinton, Lanny Davis...". Translation: bill clinton: "Yo obama, you've bitch slapped my wife in 2008? Now it's my turn to bitch slap you!"

[thriftshopping]

If we we're audited do you think the "my hard drive crashed" would be a valid reason to get out of it?  The chance of anybody going to jail for this is sadly next to none.  The only possible charges I could see sticking at this point would be tampering with evidence though I doubt they would even hold them responsible for the "hard drive failures".  At this point it seems the best outcome would be for I.R.S record keeping to become heavily mandated but I think we have a better chance of recovering the first Malaysian airplane that was lost at sea.  Thanks for keeping this thread updated!

It would be possible that someone goes to jail if there is a witness to any conversation that took place discussing the targeting of conservative groups. 

[omgbossis21]

The last update sounds like their waiting for the IRS to produce those emails.  However it just gives them more time to destroy the emails they don't want to be seen and release the useless ones IMO.  Assuming a witness came forward claiming they heard so and so, it becomes x's word vs x's word.  That could ever so slightly increase the chance of jail time, though it seems those chances are slim to none atm.   Hopefully somebody can surface some emails!

[DrG]

When the AG is completely unwilling to investigate what happened because he feels there was no impropriety there is no chance in hell anybody will be going to jail.  The statute of limitations will expire for a majority of these crimes and WHEN Hillary gets elected the favor of no reprisal will get passed on.

I laughed when watching Stars Wars at how simply evil the Sith Lord was portrayed as - sadly we're not that far off in this country.  No integrity at all from the DOJ.  How can people respect a cop if we can't respect the people at the top of the pyramid?

[Wilikon]

Trey Gowdy vs Irs Commissioner John Koskinen 7/23/14 Irs Hearing

http://youtu.be/f1w5s0WwjFc

[Wilikon]

Here’s what the IRS told a federal court about Lois Lerner’s hard drive



The IRS statements came from Stephen Manning, who is a top IT official for the IRS, and Todd Egaas, director of technology operations and investigative services for the agency. Here’s what they said:

* The hard-drive crash occurred with Lerner’s laptop. This may or may not be significant, as it leaves open the possibility that she may have stored e-mails on two hard drives — one from the laptop that crashed, and perhaps another from a desktop computer.

* Manning said Lerner’s laptop hard drive did not have a tracking code. He said the IRS does not place such codes on internal components. Nonetheless, the company that supplied the laptop recently provided the IRS with a serial number for the part. This is important because investigators could use the number to track down the device if it has not been destroyed.

* The IRS created an IT help-desk ticket to document the hard-drive crash on June 13, 2011. According to the ticket and the IT personnel involved, a mid-level specialist tried to recover the data from Lerner’s hard drive, but those efforts failed, Manning said.

* In July 2011, IT personnel sent the hard drive to an IRS forensics division, which made additional attempts to recover the hard drive’s data on July 22 , 2011 and Aug. 4, 2011, according to Egaas. “All of the analyst’s attempts were unsuccessful in recovering any data from the hard drive,” he said.

* The forensics division returned the device to IT personnel through an overnight delivery service, Egaas said. The hard drive was then “batched with other damaged or obsolete” devices, according to Manning. Without a tracking number, it was “impossible to specifically identify the hard drive through any Internal Revenue Service equipment inventory system” at that point, Manning said.

* The IRS erased the data from the hard drive through magnetic “degaussing” and then transferred the device to recycling contractor for destruction. Manning said the agency complied with “standard Internal Revenue Procedure disposal procedures for any equipment with data storage capability and to protect against any possible disclosure of [private] taxpayer information.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/07/24/heres-what-the-irs-told-a-federal-court-about-lois-lerners-hard-drive/

[Wilikon]

New Emails Show Lois Lerner Called Some Conservatives ‘A**holes’

New emails uncovered by the House Ways and Means Committee indicate that former IRS employee Lois Lerner has a strong dislike of some conservatives, and at one point called them “assholes” in an email exchange.

The committee released an email Lerner received in November 2012 complaining about the “whacko wing of the GOP.” The person mocked conservatives for believing there are “too many foreigners sucking the teat” and that it is “time to hunker down, buy ammo and food, and prepare for the end.” The person added that the “right wing radio shows are scary to listen to.”

Lerner replied, “Great. Maybe we are through if there are that many assholes.”

The other person then wrote, “And I’m talking about the hosts of the shows. The callers are rabid.”

Lerner replied, “So we don’t need to worry about alien terrorists. It’s our own crazies that will take us down.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/07/30/new-emails-show-lois-lerner-called-conservatives-aholes/

[DrG]

New Emails Show Lois Lerner Called Some Conservatives ‘A**holes’

New emails uncovered by the House Ways and Means Committee indicate that former IRS employee Lois Lerner has a strong dislike of some conservatives, and at one point called them “assholes” in an email exchange.

The committee released an email Lerner received in November 2012 complaining about the “whacko wing of the GOP.” The person mocked conservatives for believing there are “too many foreigners sucking the teat” and that it is “time to hunker down, buy ammo and food, and prepare for the end.” The person added that the “right wing radio shows are scary to listen to.”

Lerner replied, “Great. Maybe we are through if there are that many assholes.”

The other person then wrote, “And I’m talking about the hosts of the shows. The callers are rabid.”

Lerner replied, “So we don’t need to worry about alien terrorists. It’s our own crazies that will take us down.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/07/30/new-emails-show-lois-lerner-called-conservatives-aholes/

Haha, good thing she's watching out for us Americans.  I remember when she ran for office and I voted for her....oh wait. 

[Wilikon]

New Emails Show Lois Lerner Called Some Conservatives ‘A**holes’

New emails uncovered by the House Ways and Means Committee indicate that former IRS employee Lois Lerner has a strong dislike of some conservatives, and at one point called them “assholes” in an email exchange.

The committee released an email Lerner received in November 2012 complaining about the “whacko wing of the GOP.” The person mocked conservatives for believing there are “too many foreigners sucking the teat” and that it is “time to hunker down, buy ammo and food, and prepare for the end.” The person added that the “right wing radio shows are scary to listen to.”

Lerner replied, “Great. Maybe we are through if there are that many assholes.”

The other person then wrote, “And I’m talking about the hosts of the shows. The callers are rabid.”

Lerner replied, “So we don’t need to worry about alien terrorists. It’s our own crazies that will take us down.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/07/30/new-emails-show-lois-lerner-called-conservatives-aholes/

Haha, good thing she's watching out for us Americans.  I remember when she ran for office and I voted for her....oh wait. 

She is the face of cancer. No other could have played her any better.

[Spendulus]

New Emails Show Lois Lerner Called Some Conservatives ‘A**holes’

New emails uncovered by the House Ways and Means Committee indicate that former IRS employee Lois Lerner has a strong dislike of some conservatives, and at one point called them “assholes” in an email exchange.

The committee released an email Lerner received in November 2012 complaining about the “whacko wing of the GOP.” The person mocked conservatives for believing there are “too many foreigners sucking the teat” and that it is “time to hunker down, buy ammo and food, and prepare for the end.” The person added that the “right wing radio shows are scary to listen to.”

Lerner replied, “Great. Maybe we are through if there are that many assholes.”

The other person then wrote, “And I’m talking about the hosts of the shows. The callers are rabid.”

Lerner replied, “So we don’t need to worry about alien terrorists. It’s our own crazies that will take us down.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/07/30/new-emails-show-lois-lerner-called-conservatives-aholes/

Haha, good thing she's watching out for us Americans.  I remember when she ran for office and I voted for her....oh wait.  

She is the face of cancer. No other could have played her any better.

Today I retrieved email from a server after a email system on the laptop got messed up.

[Wilikon]

New Emails Show Lois Lerner Called Some Conservatives ‘A**holes’

New emails uncovered by the House Ways and Means Committee indicate that former IRS employee Lois Lerner has a strong dislike of some conservatives, and at one point called them “assholes” in an email exchange.

The committee released an email Lerner received in November 2012 complaining about the “whacko wing of the GOP.” The person mocked conservatives for believing there are “too many foreigners sucking the teat” and that it is “time to hunker down, buy ammo and food, and prepare for the end.” The person added that the “right wing radio shows are scary to listen to.”

Lerner replied, “Great. Maybe we are through if there are that many assholes.”

The other person then wrote, “And I’m talking about the hosts of the shows. The callers are rabid.”

Lerner replied, “So we don’t need to worry about alien terrorists. It’s our own crazies that will take us down.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/07/30/new-emails-show-lois-lerner-called-conservatives-aholes/

Haha, good thing she's watching out for us Americans.  I remember when she ran for office and I voted for her....oh wait.  

She is the face of cancer. No other could have played her any better.

Today I retrieved email from a server after a email system on the laptop got messed up.

Not possible. Your back up tapes only last 6 months......

[Wilikon]

Top Tea Party Lawyer: The More We Learn the More We Know Dems & IRS Colluded to Silence Conservatives (Video)

“IRS employees have given to 11 of the 18 Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. And, every time there is a hearing on any aspect of this investigation about the IRS targeting, the Democrats come in one by one and say the same thing over and over again. “Let’s shut this down. Let’s shut this down.” And I think we need to hold the Democrats accountable. They were involved in starting this and now they are trying to stop the investigation. And, the more we learn the more we realize how intertwined Lois Lerner was with the Democrats in trying to go after and silence these groups.


http://youtu.be/qj984urSHMI

[Wilikon]

Media reacts to Lois Lerner’s new email: ‘Hard to argue’ no political bias there (VIDEO)

MSNBC's Morning Joe reacts to Lois Lerner emails
http://youtu.be/vWAgIZR1XZM

CNN politics panel reacts to Lois Lerner's emails
http://youtu.be/MrMw4uNgujw


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"...Not even a smidgen bla.. bla.. bla.. blaaaaaahh...BLAH!   "

 

[Spendulus]

New Emails Show Lois Lerner Called Some Conservatives ‘A**holes’

New emails uncovered by the House Ways and Means Committee indicate that former IRS employee Lois Lerner has a strong dislike of some conservatives, and at one point called them “assholes” in an email exchange.

The committee released an email Lerner received in November 2012 complaining about the “whacko wing of the GOP.” The person mocked conservatives for believing there are “too many foreigners sucking the teat” and that it is “time to hunker down, buy ammo and food, and prepare for the end.” The person added that the “right wing radio shows are scary to listen to.”

Lerner replied, “Great. Maybe we are through if there are that many assholes.”

The other person then wrote, “And I’m talking about the hosts of the shows. The callers are rabid.”

Lerner replied, “So we don’t need to worry about alien terrorists. It’s our own crazies that will take us down.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/07/30/new-emails-show-lois-lerner-called-conservatives-aholes/

Haha, good thing she's watching out for us Americans.  I remember when she ran for office and I voted for her....oh wait.  

She is the face of cancer. No other could have played her any better.

Today I retrieved email from a server after a email system on the laptop got messed up.

Not possible. Your back up tapes only last 6 months......

Actually I was only interested in the last couple days of emails.  But the email backups on the server went back to when I started that account ten years ago.  They are all there.  Including even every spam received.

[Wilikon]

New Emails Show Lois Lerner Called Some Conservatives ‘A**holes’

New emails uncovered by the House Ways and Means Committee indicate that former IRS employee Lois Lerner has a strong dislike of some conservatives, and at one point called them “assholes” in an email exchange.

The committee released an email Lerner received in November 2012 complaining about the “whacko wing of the GOP.” The person mocked conservatives for believing there are “too many foreigners sucking the teat” and that it is “time to hunker down, buy ammo and food, and prepare for the end.” The person added that the “right wing radio shows are scary to listen to.”

Lerner replied, “Great. Maybe we are through if there are that many assholes.”

The other person then wrote, “And I’m talking about the hosts of the shows. The callers are rabid.”

Lerner replied, “So we don’t need to worry about alien terrorists. It’s our own crazies that will take us down.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/07/30/new-emails-show-lois-lerner-called-conservatives-aholes/

Haha, good thing she's watching out for us Americans.  I remember when she ran for office and I voted for her....oh wait.  

She is the face of cancer. No other could have played her any better.

Today I retrieved email from a server after a email system on the laptop got messed up.

Not possible. Your back up tapes only last 6 months......

Actually I was only interested in the last couple days of emails.  But the email backups on the server went back to when I started that account ten years ago.  They are all there.  Including even every spam received.

The IRS has a budget of multiples of billions. Yet their backup is only good for 6 months. Your email backup, on the other hand, goes back 10 years. The only logical conclusion is: your email backup budget is a multiple of a multiple of billions compared to the IRS... 

[Wilikon]

http://freebeacon.com/issues/judge-refuses-to-appoint-forensics-expert-to-locate-lost-irs-emails/

[wasserman99]

http://freebeacon.com/issues/judge-refuses-to-appoint-forensics-expert-to-locate-lost-irs-emails/

I think they have found some of the "lost" so this may not be necessary. The case in question is not the one dealing with conservative groups, but rather with a group that supported Israel. IIRC there is a lot more evidence against the IRS in this case, and the case is not against one specific person.

[Wilikon]

http://freebeacon.com/issues/judge-refuses-to-appoint-forensics-expert-to-locate-lost-irs-emails/

I think they have found some of the "lost" so this may not be necessary. The case in question is not the one dealing with conservative groups, but rather with a group that supported Israel. IIRC there is a lot more evidence against the IRS in this case, and the case is not against one specific person.

So not "case closed" yet I hope...