In a statement of apparent disbelief and frustration, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) said yesterday that the loss of emails could be intentional.
Issa said:
“If the IRS truly got rid of evidence in a way that violated the Federal Records Act and ensured the FBI never got a crack at recovering files from an official claiming a Fifth amendment protection against self-incrimination, this is proof their whole line about ‘losing’ e-mails in the targeting scandal was just one more attempted deception. Old and useless binders of information are still stored and maintained on federal agency shelves; official records, like the e-mails of a prominent official, don’t just disappear without a trace unless that was the intention.”
According to an Associated Press report, the IRS went to great lengths to try and recover data from Lerner’s computer at the time of the malfunction but ultimately could not recover the data.
