irs

The Daily Mail picked up an AP story which detailed the IRS’s claim that emails from disgraced IRS employee Lois Lerner have been “lost.”

The IRS said Lois Lerner’s computer crashed in 2011, wiping out an untold number of emails that were being sought by congressional investigators. The investigators want to see all of Lerner’s emails from 2009 to 2013 as part of their probe into the way agents handled applications for tax-exempt status by tea party and other conservative groups.

Lerner headed the IRS division that processes applications for tax-exempt status. The IRS acknowledged last year that agents had improperly scrutinized applications by some conservative groups.

Stephen Ohlemacher of the AP delved into the IRS’s most recent scandal, in which they’ve “lost” two years’ worth of emails from Lois Lerner.

Anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist called the episode “the worst attempt to blame technology in service of a cover-up since the infamous 18-minute gap” in former President Richard Nixon’s Watergate tapes.

The Washington Free Beacon’s CJ Ciaramella wrote an article with reactions from congressional leaders in response to the Lois Lerner emails which were allegedly lost by the IRS.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R., Utah), the Senate Finance Committee ranking member, called the failure of the IRS to produce Lerner’s emails an outrage.

“Today’s admission by the IRS that they cannot produce Lois Lerner’s emails is an outrageous impediment to our investigation,” Hatch said. “Even more egregious is the fact that we are learning about this a full year after our initial request to provide the Committee with any and all documents relating to our investigation. And while the IRS has agreed to turn over additional documentation, I am still greatly troubled that the administration failed to notify the Committee of this when they first became aware of it. This development will without question delay our investigation. I am committed to ensuring the Committee receives all documentation needed to move the investigation forward. I look forward to a forthright discussion with Commissioner Koskinen on this matter next week.”