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

[Wilikon]

IRS Admits to Court it Hasn’t Searched for Missing Lerner Emails



Judicial Watch announced today that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) admitted to the court that it failed to search any of the IRS standard computer systems for the “missing” emails of Lois Lerner and other IRS officials. The admission appears in an IRS legal brief opposing the Judicial Watch request that a federal court judge allow discovery into how “lost and/or destroyed” IRS records relating to the targeting of conservative groups may be retrieved. The IRS is fighting Judicial Watch’s efforts to force testimony and document production about the IRS’ loss of records in Judicial Watch’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation about the IRS targeting of Tea Party and other opponents of President Obama(Judicial Watch v. IRS (No. 1:13-cv-1559)).  The lawsuit is before U.S. District Court Judge Emmett G. Sullivan. [...]

Judicial Watch lawyers reviewed the IRS court filings and concluded that the agency “did not undertake any significant efforts to obtain the emails.”

IRS attorneys conceded that they had failed to search the agency’s servers for missing emails because they decided that “the servers would not result in the recovery of any information.” They admitted they had failed to search the agency’s disaster recovery tapes because they had “no reason to believe that the tapes are a potential source of recovering” the missing emails.  And they conceded that they had not searched the government-wide back-up system because they had “no reason to believe such a system … even exists.”

http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/irs-admits-court-hasnt-searched-missing-lerner-emails/

There is not going to be any kind of accountability as long as the Obama administration is in charge. It will essentially prevent any kind of charges from being filed as it was likely behind the wrongdoing

Key officials of the IRS who were involved in this wrongdoing, or who have been implicit in it by continuing the obfuscation and coverup, can be impeached by 60 votes in the Senate.

It's not implausible to suggest that some Democrats would side with this.  An attempt to impeach Obama would result in a party line split, but would this matter do so?

If yes, then the Democrats would en mass line up and protect the IRS's right to political intimidation?

I don't think so.

With all the crap I have seen from this government, and to be fair from past US governments from both parties too, I have learned to keep an open mind on what they are willing to do...

[Spendulus]

IRS Admits to Court it Hasn’t Searched for Missing Lerner Emails



Judicial Watch announced today that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) admitted to the court that it failed to search any of the IRS standard computer systems for the “missing” emails of Lois Lerner and other IRS officials. The admission appears in an IRS legal brief opposing the Judicial Watch request that a federal court judge allow discovery into how “lost and/or destroyed” IRS records relating to the targeting of conservative groups may be retrieved. The IRS is fighting Judicial Watch’s efforts to force testimony and document production about the IRS’ loss of records in Judicial Watch’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation about the IRS targeting of Tea Party and other opponents of President Obama(Judicial Watch v. IRS (No. 1:13-cv-1559)).  The lawsuit is before U.S. District Court Judge Emmett G. Sullivan. [...]

Judicial Watch lawyers reviewed the IRS court filings and concluded that the agency “did not undertake any significant efforts to obtain the emails.”

IRS attorneys conceded that they had failed to search the agency’s servers for missing emails because they decided that “the servers would not result in the recovery of any information.” They admitted they had failed to search the agency’s disaster recovery tapes because they had “no reason to believe that the tapes are a potential source of recovering” the missing emails.  And they conceded that they had not searched the government-wide back-up system because they had “no reason to believe such a system … even exists.”

http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/irs-admits-court-hasnt-searched-missing-lerner-emails/

There is not going to be any kind of accountability as long as the Obama administration is in charge. It will essentially prevent any kind of charges from being filed as it was likely behind the wrongdoing

Key officials of the IRS who were involved in this wrongdoing, or who have been implicit in it by continuing the obfuscation and coverup, can be impeached by 60 votes in the Senate.

It's not implausible to suggest that some Democrats would side with this.  An attempt to impeach Obama would result in a party line split, but would this matter do so?

If yes, then the Democrats would en mass line up and protect the IRS's right to political intimidation?

I don't think so.

With all the crap I have seen from this government, and to be fair from past US governments from both parties too, I have learned to keep an open mind on what they are willing to do...

I think, though that instead of endorsing a "spirit of hopelessness" as to the realistic ability to enact significant change and a return to the rule of law, various IRS and AJ officials should be targeted for impeachment.

I am not suggesting any targeting of people who cannot be shown or proven to engage in unlawful behavior, though.  Offhand I don't know if IRS officials remaining have evidence against them that rises to this level.

Holder and Lerner have fled.  Many others would (and should) and perhaps this would set an atmosphere in which these administrative agencies would do better than just grovel at the feet of the wanna be king.

[deluxeCITY]

I think, though that instead of endorsing a "spirit of hopelessness" as to the realistic ability to enact significant change and a return to the rule of law, various IRS and AJ officials should be targeted for impeachment.

I am not suggesting any targeting of people who cannot be shown or proven to engage in unlawful behavior, though.  Offhand I don't know if IRS officials remaining have evidence against them that rises to this level.

Holder and Lerner have fled.  Many others would (and should) and perhaps this would set an atmosphere in which these administrative agencies would do better than just grovel at the feet of the wanna be king.

It is not easy to impeach a government official. Even when the evidence is there, the process will turn out to be a political one and the democrats will likely try to stonewall any impeachment (as they have the investigation into the IRS) and would likely vote against impeachment regardless of any evidence presented.

[Spendulus]

I think, though that instead of endorsing a "spirit of hopelessness" as to the realistic ability to enact significant change and a return to the rule of law, various IRS and AJ officials should be targeted for impeachment.

I am not suggesting any targeting of people who cannot be shown or proven to engage in unlawful behavior, though.  Offhand I don't know if IRS officials remaining have evidence against them that rises to this level.

Holder and Lerner have fled.  Many others would (and should) and perhaps this would set an atmosphere in which these administrative agencies would do better than just grovel at the feet of the wanna be king.

It is not easy to impeach a government official. Even when the evidence is there, the process will turn out to be a political one and the democrats will likely try to stonewall any impeachment (as they have the investigation into the IRS) and would likely vote against impeachment regardless of any evidence presented.

This is not necessarily true.  You are suggesting that rank and file Democrats would line up and protect IRS administrators, who (assuming guilt for the minute) acted illegally although on suggestion to do so by the White House.

The guilt is of the IRS administrator strictly.

Democrats should fear the possibility that the next administration may well be Republican and would use the same tactics against them.  It is only necessary to pick up 60 votes in the Senate to do this. 

I view it as appropriate and just if in fact IRS adminstrators can be proven guilty.

This is very different than suggesting impeach Obama.

[Connor936]

I think, though that instead of endorsing a "spirit of hopelessness" as to the realistic ability to enact significant change and a return to the rule of law, various IRS and AJ officials should be targeted for impeachment.

I am not suggesting any targeting of people who cannot be shown or proven to engage in unlawful behavior, though.  Offhand I don't know if IRS officials remaining have evidence against them that rises to this level.

Holder and Lerner have fled.  Many others would (and should) and perhaps this would set an atmosphere in which these administrative agencies would do better than just grovel at the feet of the wanna be king.

It is not easy to impeach a government official. Even when the evidence is there, the process will turn out to be a political one and the democrats will likely try to stonewall any impeachment (as they have the investigation into the IRS) and would likely vote against impeachment regardless of any evidence presented.

This is not necessarily true.  You are suggesting that rank and file Democrats would line up and protect IRS administrators, who (assuming guilt for the minute) acted illegally although on suggestion to do so by the White House.

The guilt is of the IRS administrator strictly.

Democrats should fear the possibility that the next administration may well be Republican and would use the same tactics against them.  It is only necessary to pick up 60 votes in the Senate to do this. 

I view it as appropriate and just if in fact IRS adminstrators can be proven guilty.

This is very different than suggesting impeach Obama.

You are assuming that it was not high ranking officials that ordered the illegal investigations. You are also assuming that the rank-and-file democrats were not made aware of the investigations ahead of time.

The chairman of the committee investigating the IRS in the senate has essentially said that nothing happened

[Spendulus]

I think, though that instead of endorsing a "spirit of hopelessness" as to the realistic ability to enact significant change and a return to the rule of law, various IRS and AJ officials should be targeted for impeachment.

I am not suggesting any targeting of people who cannot be shown or proven to engage in unlawful behavior, though.  Offhand I don't know if IRS officials remaining have evidence against them that rises to this level.

Holder and Lerner have fled.  Many others would (and should) and perhaps this would set an atmosphere in which these administrative agencies would do better than just grovel at the feet of the wanna be king.

It is not easy to impeach a government official. Even when the evidence is there, the process will turn out to be a political one and the democrats will likely try to stonewall any impeachment (as they have the investigation into the IRS) and would likely vote against impeachment regardless of any evidence presented.

This is not necessarily true.  You are suggesting that rank and file Democrats would line up and protect IRS administrators, who (assuming guilt for the minute) acted illegally although on suggestion to do so by the White House.

The guilt is of the IRS administrator strictly.

Democrats should fear the possibility that the next administration may well be Republican and would use the same tactics against them.  It is only necessary to pick up 60 votes in the Senate to do this. 

I view it as appropriate and just if in fact IRS adminstrators can be proven guilty.

This is very different than suggesting impeach Obama.

You are assuming that it was not high ranking officials that ordered the illegal investigations. You are also assuming that the rank-and-file democrats were not made aware of the investigations ahead of time.

The chairman of the committee investigating the IRS in the senate has essentially said that nothing happened

AFRAID I'll just beg to differ with his sorry lying face.

We'll see what the new chair of that committee says.

[bluemountain]

I think, though that instead of endorsing a "spirit of hopelessness" as to the realistic ability to enact significant change and a return to the rule of law, various IRS and AJ officials should be targeted for impeachment.

I am not suggesting any targeting of people who cannot be shown or proven to engage in unlawful behavior, though.  Offhand I don't know if IRS officials remaining have evidence against them that rises to this level.

Holder and Lerner have fled.  Many others would (and should) and perhaps this would set an atmosphere in which these administrative agencies would do better than just grovel at the feet of the wanna be king.

It is not easy to impeach a government official. Even when the evidence is there, the process will turn out to be a political one and the democrats will likely try to stonewall any impeachment (as they have the investigation into the IRS) and would likely vote against impeachment regardless of any evidence presented.

This is not necessarily true.  You are suggesting that rank and file Democrats would line up and protect IRS administrators, who (assuming guilt for the minute) acted illegally although on suggestion to do so by the White House.

The guilt is of the IRS administrator strictly.

Democrats should fear the possibility that the next administration may well be Republican and would use the same tactics against them.  It is only necessary to pick up 60 votes in the Senate to do this. 

I view it as appropriate and just if in fact IRS adminstrators can be proven guilty.

This is very different than suggesting impeach Obama.

You are assuming that it was not high ranking officials that ordered the illegal investigations. You are also assuming that the rank-and-file democrats were not made aware of the investigations ahead of time.

The chairman of the committee investigating the IRS in the senate has essentially said that nothing happened

AFRAID I'll just beg to differ with his sorry lying face.

We'll see what the new chair of that committee says.

The democrats generally want this issue to "go away" because they know it benefited them greatly and generally have a consensus that anything that is discovered as a result of any investigation would not be good for them

[omgbossis21]

Sadly the outcome is exactly what I thought, nothing happens. 

[2dogs]

This is nothing short of sickening.

[Spendulus]

I think, though that instead of endorsing a "spirit of hopelessness" as to the realistic ability to enact significant change and a return to the rule of law, various IRS and AJ officials should be targeted for impeachment.

I am not suggesting any targeting of people who cannot be shown or proven to engage in unlawful behavior, though.  Offhand I don't know if IRS officials remaining have evidence against them that rises to this level.

Holder and Lerner have fled.  Many others would (and should) and perhaps this would set an atmosphere in which these administrative agencies would do better than just grovel at the feet of the wanna be king.

It is not easy to impeach a government official. Even when the evidence is there, the process will turn out to be a political one and the democrats will likely try to stonewall any impeachment (as they have the investigation into the IRS) and would likely vote against impeachment regardless of any evidence presented.

This is not necessarily true.  You are suggesting that rank and file Democrats would line up and protect IRS administrators, who (assuming guilt for the minute) acted illegally although on suggestion to do so by the White House.

The guilt is of the IRS administrator strictly.

Democrats should fear the possibility that the next administration may well be Republican and would use the same tactics against them.  It is only necessary to pick up 60 votes in the Senate to do this. 

I view it as appropriate and just if in fact IRS adminstrators can be proven guilty.

This is very different than suggesting impeach Obama.

You are assuming that it was not high ranking officials that ordered the illegal investigations. You are also assuming that the rank-and-file democrats were not made aware of the investigations ahead of time.

The chairman of the committee investigating the IRS in the senate has essentially said that nothing happened

AFRAID I'll just beg to differ with his sorry lying face.

We'll see what the new chair of that committee says.

The democrats generally want this issue to "go away" because they know it benefited them greatly and generally have a consensus that anything that is discovered as a result of any investigation would not be good for them

Except it doesn't just go away.  It either remains as the "new normal", in which the IRS punishes and threatens political enemies/ideologies/opponents of the one in power or the Democrats (which is yet to be determined and might vary) or the IRS is forced to in no uncertain terms stay apart from partisian politics.

Seems the latter would require something like what I proposed, impeachment of officials, but would be a far superior outcome than the former.

[deluxeCITY]

Except it doesn't just go away.  It either remains as the "new normal", in which the IRS punishes and threatens political enemies/ideologies/opponents of the one in power or the Democrats (which is yet to be determined and might vary) or the IRS is forced to in no uncertain terms stay apart from partisian politics.

Seems the latter would require something like what I proposed, impeachment of officials, but would be a far superior outcome than the former.

The issue could easily go away. All that would need to happen is congress to stop investigating the scandal and the MSM would likely stop reporting on it (as there would be nothing/very little to report.

If the situation were to "go away" then the IRS would be able to continue what they were doing and he democrats would be able to have a political advantage as their opponents would be able to be silenced

[Spendulus]

Except it doesn't just go away.  It either remains as the "new normal", in which the IRS punishes and threatens political enemies/ideologies/opponents of the one in power or the Democrats (which is yet to be determined and might vary) or the IRS is forced to in no uncertain terms stay apart from partisian politics.

Seems the latter would require something like what I proposed, impeachment of officials, but would be a far superior outcome than the former.

The issue could easily go away. All that would need to happen is congress to stop investigating the scandal and the MSM would likely stop reporting on it (as there would be nothing/very little to report.

If the situation were to "go away" then the IRS would be able to continue what they were doing and he democrats would be able to have a political advantage as their opponents would be able to be silenced

This would be a win for the totalitarian fascists.

That certainly would transform the Democratic party.

[ScreamnShout]

Except it doesn't just go away.  It either remains as the "new normal", in which the IRS punishes and threatens political enemies/ideologies/opponents of the one in power or the Democrats (which is yet to be determined and might vary) or the IRS is forced to in no uncertain terms stay apart from partisian politics.

Seems the latter would require something like what I proposed, impeachment of officials, but would be a far superior outcome than the former.

The issue could easily go away. All that would need to happen is congress to stop investigating the scandal and the MSM would likely stop reporting on it (as there would be nothing/very little to report.

If the situation were to "go away" then the IRS would be able to continue what they were doing and he democrats would be able to have a political advantage as their opponents would be able to be silenced

This would be a win for the totalitarian fascists.

That certainly would transform the Democratic party.

Obama has shown a willingness of wanting to keep his opponents at bay, at any cost. He has done a lot to get people to not speak out against him, notably the tapping of journalists business phone lines while trying to find out who was leaking information about the adminsitration

[axxo]

Let's see, the IRS was technically savy enough to forward millions of pages of personal data about conservatives to Erick Holder to investigate... But somehow they lost 2 years of incriminating emails?

[Spendulus]

Let's see, the IRS was technically savy enough to forward millions of pages of personal data about conservatives to Erick Holder to investigate... But somehow they lost 2 years of incriminating emails?

If the Justice Dept. under Holder and now some new minion, will not provide justice (translated, justice is meted out by Obama), then to an extent with the impeachment process, Congress and the Senate can take up that role.

[dontCAREhair]

Let's see, the IRS was technically savy enough to forward millions of pages of personal data about conservatives to Erick Holder to investigate... But somehow they lost 2 years of incriminating emails?

If the Justice Dept. under Holder and now some new minion, will not provide justice (translated, justice is meted out by Obama), then to an extent with the impeachment process, Congress and the Senate can take up that role.

Impeachment is not going to happen. A 2/3 majority needs to vote for impeachment in the senate which will never happen considering that impeachment trials will more or less always follow party lines and there are too many democrat in the senate as of this January

[omgbossis21]

Doesn't seem like any further investigation is going to be done...  This is how it works here in USA, are you all not citizens (sarcasm)?

[Spendulus]

Let's see, the IRS was technically savy enough to forward millions of pages of personal data about conservatives to Erick Holder to investigate... But somehow they lost 2 years of incriminating emails?

If the Justice Dept. under Holder and now some new minion, will not provide justice (translated, justice is meted out by Obama), then to an extent with the impeachment process, Congress and the Senate can take up that role.

Impeachment is not going to happen. A 2/3 majority needs to vote for impeachment in the senate which will never happen considering that impeachment trials will more or less always follow party lines and there are too many democrat in the senate as of this January

It was changed to 60 votes, no longer 2/3.  There are currently 52 Repubs, 2 "independants" IIRC. 

On an unpopular issue, it is NOT CLEAR that you will have a party line vote.

[Wilikon]

30,000 missing emails from IRS' Lerner recovered


Up to 30,000 missing emails sent by former Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner have been recovered by the IRS inspector general, five months after they were deemed lost forever.

The U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) informed congressional staffers from several committees on Friday that the emails were found among hundreds of “disaster recovery tapes” that were used to back up the IRS email system.

“They just said it took them several weeks and some forensic effort to get these emails off these tapes,” a congressional aide told the Washington Examiner.

The IRS, in a statement provided to the Examiner, said the agency and IRS Commissioner John Koskinen is fully cooperating with the investigation.

"As Commissioner Koskinen has stated, the IRS welcomes TIGTA’s independent review and expert forensic analysis." The IRS statement said. "Commissioner Koskinen has said for some time he would be pleased if additional Lois Lerner emails from this time frame could be found."

Committees in the House and Senate are seeking the emails, which they believe could show Lerner was working in concert with Obama administration officials to target conservative and Tea Party groups seeking tax-exempt status before the 2012 presidential election.

The missing emails extend from 2009 to 2011, a period when Lerner headed the IRS’s exempt-organizations division. The emails were lost when Lerner’s computer crashed, IRS officials said earlier this year.

In June Koskinen told Congress the emails were probably lost for good because the disaster recovery tape holds onto the data for only six months. He said even if the IRS had sought the emails within the six-month period, it would have been a complicated and difficult process to produce them from the tapes.

The IRS also lost the emails of several other employees who worked under Lerner during that period.

Lerner, who retired from the IRS, has refused to be questioned by Congress.

She provided a statement at a March hearing, but then clammed up, following the advice of her lawyer to avoid self-incrimination.

The House, led by Republicans, voted in May to hold Lerner in contempt of Congress.

Congressional aides said officials from the inspector general’s office said it could take weeks to get the recovered emails off the tape before sending them to lawmakers in Capitol Hill.

In all, investigators from the inspector general’s office combed through 744 disaster recovery tapes. They are not finished looking.

There are 250 million emails on the tapes that will be reviewed. Officials said it is likely they will find missing emails from other IRS officials who worked under Lerner and who said they suffered computer crashes.

Investigators said the emails could include some overlapping information because it is not clear how many of them are duplicates or were already produced by Lerner to the congressional committees.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee he chairs will be one of the committees that will examine the emails.

“Though it is unclear whether TIGTA has found all of the missing Lois Lerner e-mails, there may be significant information in this discovery,” Issa told the Examiner. “The Oversight Committee will be looking for information about her mindset and who she was communicating with outside the IRS during a critical period of time when the IRS was targeting conservative groups. This discovery also underscores the lack of cooperation Congress has received from the IRS. The agency first failed to disclose the loss to Congress and then tried to declare Lerner’s e-mails gone and lost forever. Once again it appears the IRS hasn’t been straight with Congress and the American people.”



http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/30k-missing-irs-emails-recovered/article/2556522

[Wilikon]

Flashback: Commissioner Admits Missing Lois Lerner Hard Drive Was Melted Down

http://youtu.be/u5XJxfT5dL8