Rep. Jason Chaffetz tweeted today that the “IRS Commissioner [John Koskinen] testified in March Lois Lerner emails were archived.”
His tweet comes after the IRS revealed in a letter to congressional investigators that a portion of former Exempt Organizations official Lois Lerner’s emails have been lost in a “computer crash.” Additionally, an email archival system may not have been used due to costs.
A letter from Leonard Oursler of the IRS reads in part that “The IRS has determined that Ms. Lerner’s computer crashed in mid-2011,”as reported today by Rachel Bade at Politico.
Lois Lerner’s emails are not just any emails. They have been a subject of much debate and controversy since Lerner staged an apology a little over a year ago for targeting conservative groups.
A few months ago, Rep. Jason Chaffetz had a heated exchange over the emails in question.
IRS Commissioner testified in March Lois Lerner emails were archived. Here is the video #IRS http://t.co/M6Zbl8Hgqc
— Jason Chaffetz (@jasoninthehouse) June 13, 2014
Bade reports,
“The IRS explains in the letter that it has not always backed up all employee emails due to the cost the agency would incur for allowing 90,000 employees to store their information on the IRS’s internal system.”
Some of Lerner’s internal emails have already been released. The contents of one of those emails was highlighted at a house hearing on March 5th:
It is inconceivable that emails would not be archived in some manner, particularly for executives at the IRS.
Rep. Steve Stockman awesomely responded to the news by asking the National Security Agency to turn over Lois Lerner’s metadata, which would be just as revealing as the emails themselves.
Lois Lerner stands to make as much as $3.96 million dollars during her retirement years, as reported at Liberty Unyielding.
Watch Lerner discuss political pressure the IRS was receiving in 2010 surrounding the Citizens United ruling, whose role in the IRS targeting of conservative groups cannot be overstated.
