Federal Judges Order IRS to Supply Information & Find Lerner's Hard Drive

By Elizabeth Nelson

This scandal keeps getting better.  As if Congress' Resolution H.Res 664 to Arrest Lerner for

Contempt of Congress and force her to testify, without the Senate's vote, but now, U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton, Judge Emmett Sullivan, both Federal Judges, are now giving the IRS one-two gut-punches and not only want them to produce the "presumably destroyed" hard-drive, but to "testify under oath" any information that they have, about how the emails and hard-drive wound up to be in the condition that they currently reside in, and they have a small window with which to comply.  

Friday, a different judge in the same District Court ordered the IRS to explain, under oath, what happened to Lerner’s computer hard drive.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen testified before Congress last month that the hard drive was recycled, and presumably destroyed.

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton wants the IRS to tell him whatever they know about the hard drive that Lerner says malfunctioned and lost two years of emails sought by congressional investigators, and he wants those answers in just one week.

Walton issued an order Friday afternoon demanding to know the serial number of Lerner’s hard drive and, essentially, where it is now.

WND obtained a copy of the judge’s order which specifically directs the IRS to submit to “an affidavit or declaration signed under oath by an appropriate individual with firsthand knowledge that”:

·   “Outlines the expertise and qualifications of the individual or individuals currently conducting the forensic examination as part of the Inspector General’s investigation;

·    “Outlines the expertise and qualifications of the individual or individuals who previously conducted forensic examinations or otherwise attempted to recover information from the computer hard drive at issue;

·    “Provides a projected date of completion of the Inspector General’s investigation;

·    “States whether the serial number, if any, assigned to the computer hard drive at issue is known; and

·    “If the serial number is known, why the computer hard drive cannot be identified and preserved.”

Lerner claims her emails were lost when her hard drive crashed on July 13, 2011.  She said that caused her to lose all her emails sent to recipients outside the IRS from mid-2009 to mid-2011.

A Treasury Department Inspector General for Tax Administration, or TIGTA, is doing the investigation into Lerner’s missing emails.

The Treasury Department actually oversees the IRS, so attorneys for grassroots group True the Vote, which is suing the IRS for damages, requested the judge allow independent experts to do a forensic examination of what happened to Lerner’s hard drive and to see if they could recover any of the missing emails.

Judge Walton stopped short of that, at least, for now, but was clearly sympathetic to their concerns, demanding that TIGTA provide so much information in such a short time to the court.

Washington attorney Cleta Mitchell told WND she was very encouraged because the judge had decided the time had come to hear from people with direct knowledge of the investigation into Lerner’s missing emails.

True the Vote founder Catherine Engelbrecht told WND she was very happy with the development because the judge showed “a keen interest in having someone look at what investigators are actually doing.”

Engelbrecht could be the poster gal for federal abuse in the IRS scandal, having had an entire alphabet soup of federal agencies come knocking on her door after she helped found, and then led, True the Vote and King Street Patriots.

Even though the Englebrechts had spent two decades running a business without any interest from federal agencies, once she applied for tax-exempt status for her grassroots groups, the Texan was suddenly audited by the IRS and ATF, received multiple visits by OSHA and ATF, and even was visited by the ranking Democrat on the Oversight Committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md.

The Engelbrechts were subjected to an astounding 15 audits or inquiries, in all.  Lerner  is under investigation by Congress for targeting conservative groups such as True the Vote.  She has admitted the IRS improperly targeted groups seeking 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, but has refused to testify before Congress, twice invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

WND broke the news on Thursday that Rep. Steve Stockman had submitted a motion in the House of Representatives calling for the arrest of Lerner for contempt of Congress. Lerner’s missing emails were sent during the very period in which the IRS targeted conservative groups.

On Thursday, Federal Judge Emmett Sullivan ordered the IRS to make a sworn declaration in writing describing how Lerner could have lost all the emails she sent to other departments from mid-2009 to mid-2011.

The declaration is due by August 10.

The judge also assigned federal magistrate John Facciola, an expert in e-discovery, to find out if there is another way to retrieve the emails. The judge’s ruling was a significant victory for Judicial Watch, the non-profit government watchdog group which had filed a Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, request for Lerner’s emails from 2010 to the present.

Judicial Watch has been seeking the emails since May 2013 and requested Thursday’s hearing to have the IRS explain what happened to Lerner’s emails, and to explain why the group was never informed they were missing.

Lerner is not the only IRS employee under investigation whose emails are missing.  Incredibly, the IRS says the hard drives of six other employees also lost their emails due to hard drive crashes.

Just one month ago, the IRS belatedly informed congressional committees that Lerner’s emails were missing.  The IRS then informed Congress that Lerner’s computer hard drive was recycled and apparently destroyed.

The IRS also then informed Congress that it did not keep backup copies of emails for more than six months, because they were stored on a on old-fashioned tape that is re-used every six months. Members of Congress were incredulous that the IRS, which requires tax-payers to save records going back seven years, did not save emails for more than six months.

As WND reported, when asked by members of the House Oversight Committee on June 23 why the IRS used such an antiquated system, IRS Comissioner John Kokinen testified that the estimated cost of $10-to-30 million was too much. Expressing disbelief, Chairman Darrell Issa,R-Calif., wondered, given the IRS’s $1.8 billion IT budget, should that not have been a priority? “If we had the right resources, there would be a lot of priorities,” testily retorted Koskinen.

However, Rep. Scott Desjarlais, R-Tenn. pointed out that $10-to-30 million was not much compared to the $89 million the IRS paid in bonuses last year, including $1 million to employees who actually owed back taxes.

Thursday and Friday’s court action followed Wednesday’s revelation of more key emails from Lerner, during an Oversight hearing unrelated to the IRS scandal, that was actually called to look at improper government payments. An email Lerner sent on April 9, 2013, warned colleagues to be careful about what they wrote in emails because Congress could end up reading them.

The IRS first became aware that Congress was looking into potential targeting of conservatives on Jun 3, 2011, when chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., sent a letter to the IRS.

“I was cautioning folks about email and how we have had several occasions where Congress has 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,” Lerner wrote in April.

She also asked whether the IRS instant message communications were stored automatically. When a tech staffer said they were not unless employees copied them, she replied, “Perfect.” Less than a month later, Lerner would use a planted question at a conference event to admit the IRS had improperly targeted conservatives.  Read more at WND

I've always said, where there's a will, there's a way and the GOP is quite willful when you not only withhold the truth but then tell them they can't have information that will lead to the truth that they seek.  Isn't it amazing, Nixon was crucified for 18-minutes of silence "deleted" tape, but the IRS and Obama get a pass on 2 years of incriminating deleted emails and destroyed hard drives? The hypocrisy is amazing.

Congress Takes 1st Step Towards Jailing Lois Lerner

By Elizabeth Nelson

We all understand that Holder and the Justice Department won't willingly prosecute Lois Lerner and it appears, by all of Obama's comments, that he will continue to protect whatever secrets she may or may not have within that prejudicial pea brain of hers, and Congressman Steven Stockman (R-TX) obviously feels the same way, “asking the Justice Department to prosecute Lois Lerner for admittedly illegal activity is a joke. The Obama administration will not prosecute the Obama administration.”  

Adding, “how much longer will the House allow itself to be mocked? It is up to this House to uphold the rule of law and hold accountable those who illegally targeted American citizens for simply having different ideas than the president.”  Well, we may not have to wait much longer to find out, if the House gets their way, because Rep. Stockman has filed a Resolution, H.Res. 664, which "finds Lerner in contempt of Congress" and, should it pass, he's written in an addendum that requests that she be arrested post haste and held without special treatment.  

"The Speaker of the House should issue his warrant directed to the Sergeant-at-Arms, or his deputy, commanding him toarrest and take into custody forthwith, wherever to be found, the body of LoisG. Lerner..." The greatest thing is, it only has to pass the House to go into effect, never having to see the light of the Senate floor.

WND has learned the House of Representatives is considering whether to send Lois Lerner to jail for contempt of Congress. Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas, has just submitted a resolution, HR 664, which finds Lerner in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify before a congressional committee.

Lerner, the former head of the IRS tax-exempt division, has admitted the IRS improperly targeted conservative groups seeking 501(c)(3) status. However, Lerner twice invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and refused to testify before the House Oversight Committee.

The resolution only has to pass the House, not the Senate, to go into effect. And the House is controlled by Republicans, so its passage would seem assured. If the House passes the resolution and finds Lerner in contempt, she could go to jail, according to a copy of the legislation obtained by WND.

The resolution states that she should be held in contempt because the threat of prosecution has clearly been insufficient to encourage her “to be honest and candid with Congress regarding the heinous actions of the Internal Revenue Service.”

It further states, “That the Speaker issue his warrant directed to the Sergeant-at-Arms, or his deputy, commanding him to arrest and take into custody forthwith, wherever to be found, the body of Lois G. Lerner and bring her to the bar of the House without delay to answer to the charge of contempt of its authority, breach of its privileges, and gross and wanton insult to the integrity of its proceedings, and in the meantime keep the body of Lerner in his custody in the common jail of the District of Columbia, subject to the further order of the House.

The resolution continues, “While in custody Lerner shall enjoy no special privileges beyond those extended to her fellow inmates, shall not access any computer or telephone, and shall not be visited by anyone other than her counsel, clergy, physician or family.”

There is no word yet on when the House might vote on the resolution. Read more at WND

Could it be, that we may actually hold someone accountable for at least one ObamaNation scandal and potentially get some answers? It's almost too much to hope for, that by throwing this "I plead the fifth" crook in jail, that we may actually get the truth out of her, at some point.  I'm not going to hold my breath, at least not yet, because I'm too tall to be a smurf, and smurfette was a blonde, not a redhead.

IRS “LOST” Emails – Wait – IRS had Contract with Server Provider Sonasoft

By Elizabeth Nelson

Paint me confused, it’s not bad enough when one person claims to have “lost” years worth of emails, but when several key interested parties Lerner was emailing have suddenly had electronic malfunctions, at the same time and then it comes out into the light that the IRS had hired a service, Sonasoft, to provide a critical back up service of their important documents, something suddenly smells rotten in Denmark, friend.

Yes, you read that right, the IRS reportedly used a private company to back up emails, a new report claims. The company is called Sonasoft, which boasts, "Email Archiving Done Right."  Opps, I guess they got that wrong? 

"The IRS had a contract with email backup service vendor Sonasoft starting in 2005, according to FedSpending.org, which lists the contract as being for 'automatic data processing services.' Sonasoft's motto is 'email archiving done right,' and the company lists the IRS as a customer," Reason magazine reports.

Reason points to this tweet Sonasoft published in 2009:

The exact services Sonasoft might have provided the IRS are not exactly clear. "The extent and exact details of the service that Sonasoft provided to the IRS aren't clear. But the company advertises its email archiving solution as 'ideal for small and medium businesses, government agencies, school districts, nonprofit organizations using Microsoft’s Exchange Server.'"

But the existence of a contract between the IRS and Sonasoft is relevant now that the IRS has claimed to have lost the emails Lois Lerner sent in a two year time period. Read more Weekly Standard

Now, the extent and exact details of the service that Sonasoft provided to the IRS and to whomever she was emailing may not be widely publicized by this most “transparent” government, as of yet. However, we are all finding out that what is done in the dark always comes out into the light.

What I found most interesting is that a document posted on its website describing its services says that its system "archives all email content and so reduces the risk of non-

compliance with legal, regulatory and other obligations to preserve critical business content."

Yet, it's not just that, but it’s also “designed to support the practice of a) indexing email and other electronic content, b) placing it into archival storage and c) making it readily available via robust search tools” So, why would it take years to turn over evidence, if they had “robust searching tools” at their disposal? 

I don’t know about you, but I’m suddenly becoming nauseated by the smell of decomposing DemonRAT.

Maybe Elijah Cummings Just Liked The Way Lois Lerner Looked In Her Blue Lucky Lewinsky Dress