IRS Pulls Another Fast One That Has Republicans in Congress Outraged
The IRS under the leadership of Commissioner John Koskinen has proven itself to be nothing more than a weaponized arm of the Obama administration – ready to target and take out any political enemies or people who interfere with the liberal agenda. Obfuscation, delays, and outright skullduggery has been standard operating procedure for this IRS.
Case in point: the IRS just defied an order from a federal judge to preserve a computer hard drive that is connected to a lawsuit… they wiped it clean, instead.
This isn’t the first time the IRS has destroyed evidence that they’ve been ordered to preserve — evidence that could prove their wrongdoing.
Committee on House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz and Rep. Jim Jordan wrote a letter to IRS Commissioner Koskinen stating that,
“The destruction of evidence subject to preservation orders and subpoenas has been an ongoing problem under your leadership at the IRS. It is stunning to see that the IRS does not take reasonable care to preserve documents that it is legally required to protect. “
BizpacReview reports that,
The IRS recently admitted in court to erasing the hard drive even though a federal judge had issued a preservation related to a Microsoft Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the federal tax agency last year, according to court documents. Microsoft accuses the IRS of inappropriately hiring an outside law firm to audit it and of failing to hand over related documents requested under the FOIA.
Chaffetz and other members of the oversight panel began calling for Koskinen’s impeachment in October. Chaffetz and Jordan in their letter point out that the IRS in March 2014 also destroyed 422 backup tapes containing as many as 24,000 emails sent or received by Lois Lerner, former director of IRS’ Exempt Organizations Division.
Lerner was the central figure in the scandal sparked by the tax agency’s illegal targeting and harassment of conservative and Tea Party non-profit applicants during the 2010 and 2012 election campaigns.
Samuel Maruca, owner of the hard drive in question and a former senior IRS executive, participated in the IRS hiring of the outside law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP allegedly to investigate Microsoft. Maruca left the IRS in August 2014, according to court documents.
In the end, Chaffetz and Jordan ordered Koskinen to surrender all documents related to IRS preservation policies as well as all documents related to the destruction of Lerner and Maruca’s hard drives.
What do you think should be done about Koskinen and the IRS in light of their consistent refusal to adhere to the law and follow orders to preserve and hand over evidence?
Here is video of Chaffetz and Jordan discussing yet another instance of the IRS destroying evidence:
Poster Comment:
Should we expect any other kind of conduct from this rogue agency?