The IRS admitted in court that it has not searched for Lois Lerner’s missing emails, Judicial Watch reported.
Judicial Watch announced today that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) admitted to the court that it failed to search any of the IRS standard computer systems for the "missing" emails of Lois Lerner and other IRS officials. The admission appears in an IRS legal brief opposing the Judicial Watch request that a federal court judge allow discovery into how "lost and/or destroyed" IRS records relating to the targeting of conservative groups may be retrieved.
The IRS is fighting Judicial Watch’s efforts to force testimony and document production about the IRS’ loss of records in Judicial Watch’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation about the IRS targeting of Tea Party and other opponents of President Obama(Judicial Watch v. IRS (No. 1:13-cv-1559)). The lawsuit is before U.S. District Court Judge Emmett G. Sullivan.
In its September 17 Motion for Limited Discovery, Judicial Watch argues that, despite two orders, the IRS had consistently failed to provide information detailing how "the missing emails could be retrieved from other sources and produced to Judicial Watch." On October 17, IRS attorneys asked the court to deny the Judicial Watch request, even while admitting that additional Congressional requests "could result in additional documents being located …."