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 In an unusually contentious evening hearing on Capitol Hill,
Democrats accused Republicans of rehashing baseless accusations for
political theater in the so-called IRS Tea Party targeting affair
that traces back to mid-2013.
The IRS reviews the activities of non-profits that apply for
tax-exemption because U.S. law limits their political involvement.
Non-profits have increasingly been used as conduits for political
spending, especially by conservatives.
In May 2013, Lois Lerner, who headed an IRS unit involved in
applying extra scrutiny to conservative political groups'
applications for tax-exempt status, apologized in public for what
she called "inappropriate" review of conservative groups'
applications. Republicans have been investigating since then.
 Although Lerner retired in September 2013, the controversy leapt
back into the headlines last week when the IRS said a computer crash
had caused it to lose emails written by Lerner, angering Republican
investigators who want the emails for review.
Representative Darrell Issa, one of the Republicans' most aggressive
congressional investigators, chaired the hearing and criticized what
he called "obstruction by the IRS."
Issa accused IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, seated just a few feet
away, of working to "cover up the fact that there were missing
emails". Issa said to Koskinen: "I'm sick and tired of your
game-playing in response to congressional oversight."
A former corporate turn-around expert confirmed as IRS chief in
December in the midst of the agency's worst crisis in years,
Koskinen said: "No one has been keeping this information from
Congress."
Hundreds of thousands of documents and emails, he said, have been
provided to Issa's House of Representatives Oversight and Government
Reform Committee, as well as the tax law-writing House Ways and
Means Committee.
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The agency said last week that Lerner's computer crashed in mid-2011
and that some of her emails from January 2009 to April 2011 could
not be recovered. The IRS expects to salvage more of Lerner's emails
by the end of June and turn them over to Congress, Koskinen said.
Democratic Representative Gerry Connolly said the hearing was
political theater meant to stir the Republican voter base ahead of
November's congressional elections. He called Republicans' conduct
of the hearing "reckless and disgraceful."
Republicans have been intent on linking the IRS scrutiny to the
White House, without success.
Issa's committee said on Monday that, as part of its inquiry, it had
subpoenaed Jennifer O’Connor of the White House Counsel’s office to
testify on Tuesday.
The subpoena followed a letter from White House Counsel Neil
Eggleston, declining to make O’Connor available on a voluntary basis
to testify, the committee said.
(Reporting by Kevin Drawbaugh; Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Ken
Wills)
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