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Federal Judge Issues Order To IRS That’ll Strike Fear Into Lois Lerner’s Heart
A federal judge ordered the IRS to provide “answers” by Friday regarding the full status of Lois Lerner’s emails in response to a court filing by Judicial Watch.
As reported by Western Journalism, the Treasury Department’s Inspector General (TIGTA) announced in February that it had recovered 744 backup tapes, containing 32,000 of Lerner’s emails. TIGTA later in February found 424 additional backup tapes. Judicial Watch is seeking information on the second group of tapes.
Judicial Watch sued the IRS in the fall of 2013 to enforce its FOIA request seeking the Lerner emails. The suit came following the admission by the former head of the IRS’ exempt organizations unit that the agency had targeted tea party and other conservative organizations for increased scrutiny, improper questioning (including lists of donor names), and delayed approval for their applications in the lead up to the 2012 presidential elections.
For months, the agency represented that all of Lerner’s emails from the time period in question were irretrievable because both her hard drive and the backup system had failed. IRS Commissioner John Koskinen testified before Congress last summer that the emails were “lost.”
However, after TIGTA began to investigate the emails’ disappearance, it located the initial group of the backup tapes containing thousands of Lerner emails within a matter of weeks.
In a filing on June 2 in federal district court, Judicial Watch sought answers to the following:
- Clarification as to whether all emails that have been recovered by TIGTA have now been turned over to the IRS for review and processing in response to [Judicial Watch’s] request, the volume of those emails, and the time frame in which the IRS anticipates completing its review and production of responsive emails, and
- Clarification as to whether the processing is complete for all 1,268 backup tapes to determine what emails are recoverable, and if not, when the processing is expected to be complete.
Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan issued the order last Thursday for the IRS to provide its answers by Friday, June 12.
“The Obama IRS obstructed and lied to a federal judge and Judicial Watch in an effort to hide the truth about Lois Lerner’s emails,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “The IRS is out of control and Judicial Watch is happy that Judge Sullivan has taken this key step to remind the agency that it is accountable to the rule of law and the American people.”
This post originally appeared on Western Journalism – Equipping You With The Truth
Source: http://www.westernjournalism.com/federal-judge-issues-order-to-irs-thatll-strike-fear-into-lois-lerners-heart/
