IT boss ‘blown away’ that IRS backup tapes in Lerner case erased
The chief technology officer at the IRS was “blown away” after learning backup tapes that likely contained messages to and from controversial ex-official Lois Lerner were destroyed, according to an internal government watchdog report.
The 1,600-page report, prepared by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, examined the agency’s handling of Lerner’s missing emails and apparent computer crash. Lerner is the former official at the heart of the scandal over IRS targeting of Tea Party and other conservative groups, but lawmakers were told last year that some of her electronic communications had been lost.
The effort to recover those files has seemingly been marked by a string of blunders. Inspector General J. Russell George first told lawmakers last week that 422 backup tapes were “magnetically erased” around March 4, 2014, meaning thousands of emails might never be recovered.
The IG report, which is not expected to be made public but has been viewed by Fox News, does not point to any deliberate cover-up. The report says investigators found “no evidence that the IRS and its employees purposely erased the tapes in order to conceal” some of the emails in question.
However, the report demonstrates the IRS did a sloppy job retaining documents despite a House Ways and Means Committee directive to do so.
Late Thursday Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, responded to the report, saying, “After spending more than $20 million and three years investigating, the Inspector General’s conclusions remain the same: there is no evidence to substantiate Republican claims of political motivation, White House involvement, or intentional destruction of evidence. It’s time to stop this political witch hunt and focus on investigations that impact American’s lives.”
