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

[Bitsaurus]

Look how long it took Deep Throat to get revealed for the Nixon scandal.  The truth won't come out for decades, if ever.  The man at the top of "Justice" can order everybody below to just shut it down.

[Benjig]

When are Republicans going to start playing hardball? Go after them and nail them to the wall or move on. But all this " outrage" is a huge waste of our time. How about a lot more arresting, and a little less screaming about your "outrage". Get on with this already.

[Mobius]

Look how long it took Deep Throat to get revealed for the Nixon scandal.  The truth won't come out for decades, if ever.  The man at the top of "Justice" can order everybody below to just shut it down.

It did not take that long for the Nixon scandal to come about. It was just the same scandal that was not uncovered for several administrations. I would highly doubt that another administration would try to hide this type of scandal as they have nothing to do with it and did not and would not benefit from keeping it a secret.

[Wilikon]

Judge orders IRS to come up with better explanation of missing Lerner e-mails

Insufficient IRS explanations cause Judge to order sworn answers from IRS about Lois Lerner’s hard drive and emails.

[...]
Judge Sullivan, in his earlier ruling, appointed Magistrate Judge John M. Facciola to manage and assist in discussions between Judicial Watch and the IRS about how to obtain any missing records from other sources. Magistrate Facciola is an expert in e-discovery, and authorized Judicial Watch to submit a request for limited discovery into the missing IRS records after September 10.

http://legalinsurrection.com/2014/08/judge-launches-special-inquiry-into-missing-irs-emails/

http://www.judicialwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/JW-v-IRS-1.13.cv_.01559.pdf



[...]
“ORDERED.” “Must.” “Speak under oath.” These are not really requests, and the time frame isn’t an expression of curiosity, either. Giving the IRS a single week to meet these demands after months of wrangling over Judicial Watch’s challenge implies that (a) Sullivan’s pretty convinced the IRS has these answers, which then suggests that  (b) Sullivan’s getting angry over the IRS’ intransigence and opacity in dealing with the court. Either Judge Sullivan has run out of patience, or he wants the IRS to think he has.
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/15/judge-orders-irs-to-come-up-with-better-explanation-of-missing-lerner-e-mails/

[Fray]

When are Republicans going to start playing hardball? Go after them and nail them to the wall or move on. But all this " outrage" is a huge waste of our time. How about a lot more arresting, and a little less screaming about your "outrage". Get on with this already.

I think the reason the GOP is not going harder on the administration about this is because there is no guarantee that there is incriminating evidence that laws were broken. If they push too hard on this and are not able to find evidence then it will make them look like they are going on a which hunt.

I would also not be entirely surprised if a lot (if not all) of the instructions to do illegal activity were given verbally either in person or via telephone so it would be possible that there is no record of Obama giving the orders to target conservative groups.

[omgbossis21]

Better explanation under oath .... "Well I'm not a tech savvy person so I don't understand the mumbo jumbo but the service techs said it was scratched and unrecoverable, you should ask them.  Oh his name,  I do not recall."

[galbros]

When are Republicans going to start playing hardball? Go after them and nail them to the wall or move on. But all this " outrage" is a huge waste of our time. How about a lot more arresting, and a little less screaming about your "outrage". Get on with this already.

I think the reason the GOP is not going harder on the administration about this is because there is no guarantee that there is incriminating evidence that laws were broken. If they push too hard on this and are not able to find evidence then it will make them look like they are going on a which hunt.

I would also not be entirely surprised if a lot (if not all) of the instructions to do illegal activity were given verbally either in person or via telephone so it would be possible that there is no record of Obama giving the orders to target conservative groups.

The main problem is the Democrats are stonewalling and the Republicans in Congress have even lower approval than the President.  That and the fact that most media outlets are just not going to be a part of hurting this administration and you've got a very frustrating situation.

[Wilikon]

Judicial Watch Says DOJ Attorney Told Them Lerner Emails Do Exist…

A Justice Department official admitted that former IRS official Lois Lerner’s apparently missing emails actually exist on a backup server, but the government doesn’t plan to retrieve them.

“A Department of Justice attorney told a Judicial Watch attorney on Friday that it turns out the federal government backs up all computer records in case something terrible happens in Washington and there’s a catastrophe, so the government can continue operating,” Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton told Fox News’ Shannon Bream.

“But it would be too hard to go get lois lerner’s emails from that backup system,” Fitton continued, paraphrasing the DOJ official.

[omgbossis21]

LOL We have them!  Get them?  Nah. 

[itsAj]

Judicial Watch Says DOJ Attorney Told Them Lerner Emails Do Exist…

A Justice Department official admitted that former IRS official Lois Lerner’s apparently missing emails actually exist on a backup server, but the government doesn’t plan to retrieve them.

“A Department of Justice attorney told a Judicial Watch attorney on Friday that it turns out the federal government backs up all computer records in case something terrible happens in Washington and there’s a catastrophe, so the government can continue operating,” Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton told Fox News’ Shannon Bream.

“But it would be too hard to go get lois lerner’s emails from that backup system,” Fitton continued, paraphrasing the DOJ official.

I very much doubt that anyone in the Obama administration wants to get to the bottom of this. Democrats have been pushing to get the IRS investigation to be over for over a year now. The administration has been hampering the gathering of evidence. I would not at all be surprised if there is very damaging evidence against very high people in the administration, it is just that it is very well hidden.

[omgbossis21]

Agreed.  Its like cops investigating cops....   It would be nice to somebody go after this and expose it, I think their probably hiding a lot.  Sadly its probably never going to happen and this is the reality I am accustomed to here in the good ol US of A.

[DrG]

Judicial Watch Says DOJ Attorney Told Them Lerner Emails Do Exist…

A Justice Department official admitted that former IRS official Lois Lerner’s apparently missing emails actually exist on a backup server, but the government doesn’t plan to retrieve them.

“A Department of Justice attorney told a Judicial Watch attorney on Friday that it turns out the federal government backs up all computer records in case something terrible happens in Washington and there’s a catastrophe, so the government can continue operating,” Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton told Fox News’ Shannon Bream.

“But it would be too hard to go get lois lerner’s emails from that backup system,” Fitton continued, paraphrasing the DOJ official.

Standard government line.  We went through this elaborate setup to make backups but now find it inconvenient to have to retrieve them.

Government makes watchdog committees that file reports on government waste - only to have said reports piled in a room and nobody bothers reading them and they have to spend money storing them.

Well at least it's better - it went from sheer statistical impossibility to general government malaise.

[Wilikon]

IRS Admits Lois Lerner Emails Are Backed Up (Video)

http://youtu.be/Xch72Zitob0

[Spendulus]

Judicial Watch Says DOJ Attorney Told Them Lerner Emails Do Exist…

A Justice Department official admitted that former IRS official Lois Lerner’s apparently missing emails actually exist on a backup server, but the government doesn’t plan to retrieve them.

“A Department of Justice attorney told a Judicial Watch attorney on Friday that it turns out the federal government backs up all computer records in case something terrible happens in Washington and there’s a catastrophe, so the government can continue operating,” Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton told Fox News’ Shannon Bream.

“But it would be too hard to go get lois lerner’s emails from that backup system,” Fitton continued, paraphrasing the DOJ official.

Standard government line.  We went through this elaborate setup to make backups but now find it inconvenient to have to retrieve them.

Government makes watchdog committees that file reports on government waste - only to have said reports piled in a room and nobody bothers reading them and they have to spend money storing them.

Well at least it's better - it went from sheer statistical impossibility to general government malaise.

So you know now there are at least THREE places the emails exist (A) the NSA (B) the above mentioned government backup (C) the machines of the recipients of Lerner's emails.

In the case of (B) this is called refusing to comply with a supeona.  

These are not very good liars.  Some years ago I was in charge of data backups for a government facility with perhaps 5000 people.  I flat guarantee you those tapes could be loaded and subsets of data retrieved in short order.  That is the very reason why these things are called "backups".

"General government malaise" is only a shield they hide behind.  Think of how rapidly they'd be coming up with the data if it helped to put away a right winger.

[Wilikon]

IRS Destroyed Lois Lerner’s Blackberry After It Knew Her Hard Drive “Crashed”…



The IRS filing in federal Judge Emmet Sullivan’s court reveals shocking new information. The IRS destroyed Lerner’s Blackberry AFTER it knew her computer had crashed and after a Congressional inquiry was well underway. As an IRS official declared under the penalty of perjury, the destroyed Blackberry would have contained the same emails (both sent and received) as Lois Lerner’s hard drive.

We all know by now that Lois Lerner’s hard drive crashed in June 2011 and was destroyed by IRS. The emails of up to twenty other related IRS officials were missing in remarkably similar “crashes,” leading many to speculate that Lois Lerner’s Blackberry perhaps held the key. Now, the Observer can confirm that a year after the infamous hard drive crash, the IRS destroyed Ms. Lerner’s Blackberry—and without making any effort to retain the emails from it.

Judge Sullivan has had to pry information from the IRS to learn anything about Ms. Lerner’s Blackberry. Now, with these latest revelations, I’m confident he’s not finished.

In two elusive and nebulous sworn declarations, we can glean that Ms. Lerner had two Blackberries. One was issued to her on November 12, 2009. According to a sworn declaration, this is the Blackberry that contained all the emails (both sent and received) that would have been in her “Outlook” and drafts that never were sent from her Blackberry during the relevant time.

http://observer.com/2014/08/irs-shocker-filing-reveals-lerner-blackberry-destroyed/

[Chef Ramsay]

As much as this all infuriates me, there's likely not much that can be done when these bureaucrats can just tamper with evidence and no one has to spend time in prison or lose their pensions. Let's face it, even if these emails exist and they're finally ordered to produce them, there's every possibility that they make sure all the incriminating stuff is redacted.

[itsAj]

As much as this all infuriates me, there's likely not much that can be done when these bureaucrats can just tamper with evidence and no one has to spend time in prison or lose their pensions. Let's face it, even if these emails exist and they're finally ordered to produce them, there's every possibility that they make sure all the incriminating stuff is redacted.

I don't think they can really get information redacted when it is sent to congress. When documents are released to the public, the version that is released to the public is often redacted for any number of reasons, but since congress has oversight of these agencies, and the fact that all of congress has a security clearance, there is no real reason for anything to be in any way redacted when it is released to congress.

[wasserman99]

As much as this all infuriates me, there's likely not much that can be done when these bureaucrats can just tamper with evidence and no one has to spend time in prison or lose their pensions. Let's face it, even if these emails exist and they're finally ordered to produce them, there's every possibility that they make sure all the incriminating stuff is redacted.

I don't think it is so much the bureaucrats that caused this to happen, but rather the politicians that directed the law to be broken, and likely made the promises to give political cover in the event they are caught. Have you noticed how the Obama administration has basically said that no one will be prosecuted for the IRS targeting Conservative groups? (even though the law was clearly broken).

[Wilikon]

IRS 'LOSES' EMAILS FROM 5 MORE EMPLOYEES


The IRS says it has lost emails from five more workers who are part of congressional investigations into the treatment of conservative groups that applied for tax exempt status.

The tax agency said in June that it could not locate an untold number of emails to and from Lois Lerner, who headed the IRS division that processes applications for tax-exempt status. The revelation set off a new round of investigations and congressional hearings.

On Friday, the IRS said it has also lost emails from five other employees related to the probe, including two agents who worked in a Cincinnati office processing applications for tax-exempt status.

The agency blamed computer crashes for the lost emails. In a statement, the IRS said it found no evidence that anyone deliberately destroyed evidence.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_IRS_LOST_EMAILS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-09-05-15-47-22

[omgbossis21]

How infuriating that their going to get away with this nonsense!  At the very least I hope it sets a new court precedent in which attorneys can say "in reference to court case xxx state vs loius lerner lost emails and crashed hard drives were found to be a reputable reason".  Anyone who gets audited "Well I stored them in my taxes in my emails and my had drive crashed".  Any case involving records "They were store in emails on a hard drive".  Sorry for taking it out on the forum