By Becky Gerritson
On the day, Americans were consumed with the SCOTUS ruling on Obamacare, I was engrossed in watching congressional testimony from the Treasury Department’s Inspector General, Mr. George, and Deputy Inspector General, Mr. Camus, on the progress of the investigation into Lois Lerner’s “lost emails.”
The hearing was an update designed to inform the Oversight and Government Reform Committee of their progress on the investigation into Lois Lerner’s lost emails. The investigation has NOT been completed therefore no fingers were pointed and no final conclusions were stated.
HIGHLIGHTS:
•So far TIGTA investigators have interviewed 118 witnesses and have procured 20 terabytes of data.
•TIGTA found 1,000 emails that the IRS neglected to give to Congress as requested.
•TIGTA estimates that there are still 23,000-24,000 emails missing.
•TIGTA stated that the IRS did not put forth an effort to search for backup tapes. A statement which flies in the face of IRS Commissioner Koskinen’s previous testimony that “the IRS would leave no stone unturned.” Truth is, that out of the following six sources where emails could be located:
1crashed hard drive
2back-up tapes for that hard drive
3decommissioned server
4tapes for that server
5Lerner’s Blackberry
6loaner computers
the IRS only looked at one source. As a matter of fact, the IRS didn’t even bother to ask for the backup tapes. Yet TIGTA had no problem asking for and getting them. In fact, it was as easy as going through the drive-thru and speaking to the clown at Jack In The Box on a Friday night. They just drove to the location where they were stored and asked for them, and voila – there they were!
•Preservation orders for Lerner’s emails were given in Jun 2013. In August 2013, Congress still had not received the emails so they issued subpoenas for all of Lerner’s emails. Yet 7 months later, in March 2014, 422 backup tapes were destroyed. And would you believe that the employees who destroyed them are still working at the IRS?
During the testimony, TIGTA emphasized that, at this point, they do not suspect intentional destruction of evidence. OH Rep. Jordan laid out the timeline of events, including when investigations began, when subpoenas were issued, when emails went missing and when misleading statements were made at congressional hearings by IRS officials. He asked Mr. Camus, “How could this not be intentional?” And Camus’ answer was, “It’s an unbelievable set of circumstances.” I agree; I DON’T BELIEVE IT!
The probability of all of these events happening by chance is astronomical. So I asked myself, “Is this just incompetence or is it obstruction of justice?” These IRS officials have worked for the government for years and many are making six figures; I just can’t believe they are that stupid. For example, when the order was issued to not delete, wipe clean, erase, etc. any of Lerner’s electronic communications, these managers later told investigators that they weren’t sure if it also meant “backup tapes” (even though the order included in its detailed instructions the words, backup tapes). So after discussion, or collusion, between themselves they decided it didn’t mean backup tapes – so they were “degaussed”, or “Lernerized.” HELLO! REALLY? To me, that is clearly intentional. Who in their right mind would believe this was accidental? An even if it was accidental, they were legally bound with protecting those emails and tampering with or destroying them is still a violation of the law. If you “accidentally” run a stop sign and crash into another vehicle, you can bet you will still be charged with a violation and be liable for the damages!
As a casualty of the IRS’ targeting of conservatives, I am infuriated that no one has yet been held accountable. In fact, I found myself yelling back at my computer screen as I was watching the testimony. (I hope Google or NSA was not watching and recording me!) But there was one new piece of information that literally made my heart race as I felt a shot of adrenalin run through my body. S.C. Rep. Trey Gowdy announced that Catherine Duval, former Chief Council for the IRS Commissioner, the one in charge of producing all of the IRS emails to Congress, is now at the State Department in charge of recovering the Benghazi emails! Are you kidding?! It was under her watch at the IRS that 422 email backup tapes were destroyed!
Are you concerned yet? I have concluded that our corrupt government has NO FEAR whatsoever of being punished, so they will continue their efforts to fundamentally transform our nation. Conservative Americans, NOW is the time to unite to reclaim our nation… before it’s too late! Share this post and speak out for freedom today!
Visit author Becky Gerritson at: http://www.bornfreeamericanwoman.com/blog/
