Lois Lerner Warned IRS Employees to Hide Information from Congress

A newly released email from former IRS employee Lois G. Lerner, sent just as the tea party targeting scandal was erupting, warned colleagues to “be cautious” about what information they put in emails because it could be turned over to Congress.

“I was cautioning folks about email and how we have had several occasions where Congress ask asked for emails and there has been an electronic search for responsive emails — so we need to be cautious about what we say in emails,” Ms. Lerner wrote in an April 9, 2013, message.

The message came less than two weeks after the IRS’s internal auditor shared a draft report with the agency accusing it of targeting tea party and conservative groups. A month after the email, Ms. Lerner would plant a question at a conference to reveal the scandal, just before the inspector general’s report was made public.

The email was turned over to the House oversight committee last week, more than a year after lawmakers sought it as part of their investigation into the IRS targeting.

Republicans said the email shows Ms. Lerner was aware Congress was probing the agency and that she was preparing to intentionally hide agency discussions from lawmakers.

Ms. Lerner’s emails have become a major scandal in and of themselves after the IRS revealed that her computer hard drive crashed in 2011, causing the agency to lose thousands of her messages.

The IRS went back and tried to recover some of the messages by asking others on the email chain to dig through their mailboxes, but the agency acknowledged some messages may be permanently lost.

Some Republicans have questioned whether the IRS took enough steps to try to recover the emails from the hard drive in 2011.

Read More at the Washington Times:
 http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jul/9/gop-lerner-warned-irs-employees-hide-information/#ixzz370hQu61s
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Lois Lerner Invokes the 5th Amendment



IRS agents testify before Congress. The orders came from Washington.


 The IRS's evolving Story on targeting conservatives. 


 Part of the targeting involved leaking confidential information about conservative groups  to the press


The Democrat Party used the agencies of the government to silence and intimidate it's political opponents.

Read More:
 Senate Dems Have as Much to Explain as the IRS 
Key Senate Democrats publicly pressured the IRS to target groups that held differing political views.
IRS Office That Targeted Tea Party Also Disclosed Confidential Docs From Conservative Groups

Emails Show Lois Lerner Fed True the Vote Tax Information to Democrat Elijah Cummings

JW Obtains Records: IRS’ Lerner Disclosed Confidential Information about Tax Status of Conservative Groups to FEC
 The videos in my blog also have links to many articles on the IRS scandal

House Committee Votes to Refer IRS's Lois Lerner for Criminal Charges

House Ways and Means Committee Votes to Refer Lois Lerner For Criminal Charges

Katie Pavlich | Apr 09, 2014

The House Ways and Means Committee has voted to 23-14 along party lines to refer former head of tax exempt groups at the IRS Lois Lerner to the Justice Department for prosecution. Although the details about exactly what charges will be have not yet been released, lawmakers are arguing Lerner has not been truthful with Congress or the IRS inspector general and leaked confidential tax information.

Last time a referral like this happened, it was to Major League Baseball player Roger Clemens, who was pursued by the Department of Justice for lying to Congress but was exonerated in court.

This is a test for the Department of Justice and the Obama administration. What's more important? Baseball and steroids? Or the most powerful federal agency abusing its power to target innocent conservative groups? 

Last summer President Obama called the targeting "outrageous" and promised to hold people responsible and accountable for what happened. If the Justice Department refuses to pursue charges against Lerner, it's fair to say one reason is because they don't want information leading back to the administration coming out in court.

Tomorrow the House Oversight Comittee will vote on whether to hold Lerner in contempt of Congress.