|
 U.S. officials told lawmakers late on Thursday that investigators
had found 32,774 emails linked to former IRS official Lois Lerner, a
key figure in a scandal that broke in 2013. But the emails'
importance was still unclear.
More than a year-and-a-half ago, Republicans accused the IRS of
unfairly treating conservative groups in reviewing their
applications for tax-exempt status. Congressional investigators
quickly focused on Lerner, who led the IRS tax-exempt unit.
Lerner, who resigned from the tax agency, refused to testify to a
congressional committee about the affair. Republicans voted last May
to hold her in contempt of Congress.
In June, the IRS said that some of Lerner's emails had been lost in
a computer hard-drive failure. The U.S. Justice Department said it
was investigating.
 At a congressional hearing on Thursday evening, Timothy Camus, a
Treasury deputy inspector general for tax, told lawmakers that it
was not clear whether any of the new trove of emails recovered by
his group contained new information.
Camus did not describe the content of the emails, which were located
on backup tapes at a West Virginia facility. He said investigators
are trying to determine whether additional backup tapes exist that
may contain more of Lerner's emails.
Republicans seized on the discovery as evidence that the IRS, which
declared the emails missing last year, has been lax in cooperating
with the congressional probe.
[to top of second column] |
"I've got to tell you, we have been patient, we have asked, we have
issued subpoenas, we have held hearings," said Representative Jason
Chaffetz, a Utah Republican who leads the House Oversight Committee.
"It's just shocking to me that you start (looking), two weeks later
you're able to find the emails," he told Camus, referring to the
Treasury inspector general's office locating the emails after the
IRS said it could not find them. The IRS is part of the Treasury
Department.
Democrats on the panel argued that the hearing was premature and
politically driven. Representative Carolyn Maloney, a New York
Democrat, said it was not yet clear whether the recovered emails
contained any new material.
(Reporting by Emily Stephenson; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and
Jonathan Oatis)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
