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Issa Subpoenas IRS Commissioner On Lost Lerner Emails
Posted By Patrick Howley On 5:45 PM 06/16/2014 In | No Comments
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa subpoenaed Internal Revenue Service (IRS) commissioner John Koskinen to testify about Lois Lerner’s “lost” emails and claimed that federal law mandates that Lerner’s emails should have been preserved.
Issa subpoenaed Koskinen to testify at a 7 p.m. hearing next Monday, June 23. The IRS claimed late last week that 2011 emails exchanged between Lerner and other Obama administration departments including the White House were lost in a computer crash and could not be provided to House Ways and Means Committee investigators probing the IRS targeting scandal, as previously agreed. Koskinen also agreed to testify before the Ways and Means Committee next Tuesday, June 24.
The IRS told The Daily Caller that it is working to retrieve the lost emails from other departments, including the White House, but the other departments were not part of the IRS’ agreement with the Ways and Means Committee and are not required to provide assistance in retrieving the emails.
“Congress passed the Federal Records Act (FRA) to preserve key documents—such as those that were stored on Lerner’s hard drive—for production to congressional investigators and other stakeholders, including historians and FOIA requesters,” Issa wrote in a letter accompanying his subpoena. ”The FRA requires agencies to make and preserve records of agency decisions, policies, and essential transactions, and to take steps to safeguard against the loss of agency records.”
“I will not tolerate your continued obstruction and game-playing in response to the Committee’s investigation of the IRS targeting,” Issa wrote. “For too long, the IRS has promised to produce requested — and, later, subpoenaed — documents, only to respond later with excuses and inaction. Despite your empty promises and broken commitments to cooperation, the IRS still insists on flouting Constitutional congressional oversight.”
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