By Robert Laurie ——Bio and Archives--July 11, 2014
American Politics, News | CFP Comments | Reader Friendly | Subscribe | Email Us
A federal judge on Thursday ordered the IRS to explain under oath how it lost a trove of emails to and from a central figure in the agency's tea party controversy. U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan gave the tax agency a month to submit the explanation in writing. Sullivan said he is also appointing a federal magistrate to see whether the lost emails can be obtained from other sources. Sullivan issued the order as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group. He said the IRS declaration must be signed, under oath, by the appropriate IRS official.
"I'm going to hold tight to that Aug. 10 declaration," Sullivan said.As the worst website in the world reported, this was just the beginning, because:
In addition to the written declaration, the judge also ordered that the government and Judicial Watch meet with Magistrate Judge John Facciola until Sept. 10 to discuss how the IRS can possibly obtain or recover the lost emails and documents from other sources. Judicial Watch is seeking information on what kinds of efforts the IRS has gone to in order to recover the lost information as well as how the agency is identifying additional sources, such as Lerner’s assistant, to try to find them. ....Following the judge’s order, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton told reporters that it was “an extraordinary hearing” that shows Sullivan was “obviously interested on behalf of the public” in getting the IRS on the record about the emails. Fitton also said that appointing a magistrate as Sullivan did “rarely happens” in FOIA cases.In other words, Judicial Watch will get a chance to pose all the questions people have been asking. If you're wondering "couldn't they just get the emails from other government computers?" That will be part of this process. "How about the computers on the other end of these conversations?" That too. "Has the IRS really done anything to retrieve these communications, and why weren't they printed out as ordered by their own regulations?" Ditto. Between this ruling, and Rep. Steve Stockman's efforts to have Lerner arrested...
....The walls appear to be closing in on everyone's least favorite IRS agent.
Support Canada Free Press
View Comments
Robert Laurie’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain.com
Be sure to “like” Robert Laurie over on Facebook and follow him on Twitter. You’ll be glad you did.