Posted on 02/27/2015 2:11:49 AM PST by Libloather
The IRS inspector general is conducting a criminal probe into how the agency handled former official Lois Lerner's emails.
The IRS initially told lawmakers that emails from Lerner, the former official at the heart of the Tea Party targeting scandal, were lost. But many Lerner emails were found despite claims from officials that they were not backed up.
"There is potential criminal activity," Timothy Camus, the deputy inspector general for investigations, told the House Oversight Committee at a late Thursday hearing, according to reports.
Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George and Camus, his deputy, told the Oversight panel they were also working with recovered hard drives from IRS email servers that could contain additional emails. But it is unclear whether that data can be recovered.
The investigators learned earlier this month that there were over 400 additional back tapes that may contain Lerner's emails from a crucial period in 2011. According to reports, the IG's office was not notified about those backups, which took them only two weeks to find.
The officials learned about the back-up tapes after demanding additional documents that IRS had not initially shared. One of those documents made clear that there were hundreds of other tapes.
“We were following up on our initial interviews, we realized we were missing a document. When we obtained that document and reviewed it, we realized that there were an additional population of tapes that had been unaccounted for,” Camus told lawmakers.
Asked by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) who was responsible for turning over that document, Camus responded, “it was an IRS document.”
George and Camus both said their investigation was in an early stage.
“It seems that the best course of action would be to have the inspector general come back when his report is complete,” said Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.).
Lerner was the head of the IRS unit responsible for tax-exempt status. She apologized to lawmakers after it was discovered that IRS officials improperly targeted Tea Party groups seeking tax-exempt status. She insisted, though, that she had done nothing wrong and retired from the IRS in 2013.
The controversy sparked a number of congressional probes, but lawmakers' investigations were stymied after the IRS told Congress that Lerner's computer had crashed in 2011, leaving many emails lost.
Officials claimed there were no backups. But in November, the Treasury inspector general said it had recovered about 30,000 emails from Lerner from 2009 to 2011.
I want to see that loathsome snake like creature aka the IRS Commissioner whom lied under oath about there being no back up tapes frog marched to prison.
Lest we forget Trey Gowdy a staunch Constitutional Conservative
this is the short version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjoScJeZrPA
Will this shriveled up old hag ever go to jail for the crimes she committed to please her boss?
When saudi arabia adopts the pig as the national mascot.
Unfortunately what will come out of this investigation, like every other investigation of wrong doings by this administration and Obama’s own lawlessness is NOTHING. There’s all kinds of crimes and fraud and nothing is done.
We have a government that is out of control and can’t function and we have a large majority of citizens who don’t give a damn.
Another faux investigation = Another layer added to the cover-up
Even more, the IRS has been recently found to rehire fraudulent employees. We have a blindly partisan POTUS who lets all kinds of >£¥€ happen.
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Possession and distribution of IRS documents to unauthorized parties is a serious crime.
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The RNC-connected "Freedom Path" claims in a lawsuit that the IRS illegally released its application to ProPublica, a New York-based investigative news organization.
F/P claims that ProPublica published the information with an article "suggesting that plaintiff (F/P) had engaged in illegal activities and/or misstated its activities on tax documents."
The article was reposted on other media outlets, including The Washington Post and The Salt Lake Tribune, the complaint states.
All of the above are potential defendants. Possession and distribution of IRS documents to unauthorized parties
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YOO-HOO MITCH---REMEMBER THIS? Majority Leader Mitch McConnell "vowed to dig deeper" into the IRS targeting scandal now that Republicans have subpoena power in the Senate.
You got a lot of company on that.
DAILY CALLER, 7/23/15---IRS Commissioner John Koskinen revealed in July that he is not speaking to any potential witnesses in the missing-emails case while his agency’s inspector general conducts his own investigation.
Koskinen claimed that IRS inspector general J. Russell George told him “not to do any further investigations or interviews” with employees pertaining to hard drive crashes, and that’s why he did not voluntarily provide a key witness to congressional investigators. But Koskinen later admitted that the inspector general never told him not to cooperate with Congress.
The IRS has been nominally conducting its own internal investigation into the IRS conservative targeting scandal since 2013, but that now appears to be over.
Koskinen’s statement stunned Republican lawmakers at a morning House Oversight and Government Reform investigations subcommittee hearing chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan, who stated, “It has taken subpoenas to get people to talk.”
Jordan called Koskinen’s statement “not accurate,” citing IRS prep sessions with employees who get interviewed by Congress to prove that the IRS is still talking to potential witnesses.
South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy grilled Koskinen on his remarks, asking him that if sexual harassment or racial discrimination occurred “you would wait until the IG investigated” before asking around about it.
“There is nothing about an ongoing IG investigation that would prevent you from doing your job,” Gowdy said. “There is nothing talismanic about an IG investigation…You could do a dual investigation.”
Koskinen claimed ignorance on several different fronts. (Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com
(More Koskinen lies below)
“I know nothing of the sort,” Cong Gutierrez (Dim-Ill) snapped at a Daily Caller reporter Friday when asked about Koskinen’s testimony. “Of course it would be like you to raise that sort of question,” the Democrat Guttierez continued. “Why don’t you ask the commissioner of the IRS?”
The IRS commissioner, of course, had already been asked about it. “Under the new program,” Koskinen told members of the House oversight committee Wednesday, “if you get a Social Security number and you work, you’ll be eligible to apply for the Earned Income Tax Credit.” “You will get an amount depending on your situation,” Koskinen added. “If you are an individual working and applying for the Earned Income Tax Credit, the maximum you can get is in the range of 500 to 600 dollars.”
However it appears Koskinen fudged the question while the cameras were rolling---according to the IRS’ own website, a filer can receive a check up to $6,143 when they have “three or more qualifying children.”
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"Know-Nothing Cong Guttierez" is aligned w/ the most extreme anti-American latino factions extant today. He lacerated Republicans at last summer's Cong immigration hearing for daring to make inquiries......and he disdained a reporter's question about illegals getting tax refunds.
FBI TIPS PAGE--YOU MAY REMAIN ANONYMOUS ---https://tips.fbi.gov
Taxpayers demand that these activities be rigorously scrutinized....and the scope and dimension of Koskinen colluding w/ radical Third World elements.
Fox in charge of watching the henhouse again. This administration would be laughable if it weren’t so criminal in EVERY aspect.
One day, far out into the future, readers MIGHT see the results of all the probing and investigating. But alas, at the ripe age of 99 years, Lerner will have likely passed away due to natural causes and everyone will wonder, “who was Lerner”?
This, like every other scandal under the odumbo administrations tenure these past six plus years, will be long forgotten without an ounce of retribution or penalties ever having been invoked.
Our national mascot occupies the oval office..........
Maybe we need to send all repubs a set for those they don’t have or use. A nice package saying: Here’s a set - use them or get out. Our Country needs leadership not power fueled by greed.
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