After learning that the Internal Revenue Service has refused to release e-mails that were forensically extracted by the Treasury Department’s inspector general (IG) from the account of former IRS official Lois Lerner — emails that might contain critical evidence of misguided practices at the troubled agency — U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) released a statement to air his concerns regarding the issue.
“The excuses peddled by the IRS to deny access to Lois Lerner’s e-mails stretch the bounds of credibility,” Issa said. “The agency now says it can’t release 6,400 of Lerner’s e-mails because it is ensuring the e-mails are not duplicates, despite the fact that the inspector general has already confirmed the e-mails are not duplicates. The IRS is touting this unnecessary de-duplication process as an excuse for why its timeline for releasing Lerner’s communications may ‘need’ to be further delayed.”
Issa said the IRS continues to make excuses in an effort to prevent the e-mails from becoming public.
“This is, of course, just the latest obstruction in a long line of obstructions,” Issa said. “First, the hard drive failed, then it was destroyed, then there were no backup tapes – lies and obfuscations exposed by IG investigators who recovered thousands of emails the Congress, courts and the American people were told the IRS had done everything possible to recover and were gone for good.”
“The deputy inspector general has already publicly confirmed what most already suspect – that ‘there is potential criminal activity,’” Issa said. “I look forward to the full truth being brought to light when the Treasury Inspector General’s office releases the final results of its investigation. The prosecution of bad actors at the IRS and elsewhere, to the fullest extent of the law, is the only way to restore confidence in an agency whose standing has been badly damaged by its own actions.”