Rep. Darrell Issa said Sunday that issues about emails disappearing in the Internal Revenue Service scandal are missing the root of the problem — that conservative groups were targeted by the IRS.
“Lois Lerner’s unit, headed by Lois Lerner and directed by Lois Lerner, unfairly targeted and abused conservative groups for what they believed,” the chairman of the House Oversight Committee said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
A computer issue is said to have destroyed thousands of emails that were meant to be turned over to Congress from Ms. Lerner, the former director of the IRS Exempt Organizations Unit.
Mr. Issa, California Republican, said Congress will “probably never know” what really happened to Ms. Lerner’s emails, since the drive is physically gone. But he said it’s surprising that someone with 30 years of experience working for the federal government wouldn’t follow the guidelines that required emails to be printed.
“Do I believe she printed to paper? Yes. She’s an attorney, longstanding, and it’s hard to believe you wouldn’t cover your own paper documents,” he said.
Ms. Lerner has recently made news for suggesting an investigation of a group that offered to pay for the wife of Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican, to attend an event with him. She asked if the group should be looked into, a co-worker said he didn’t think it was necessary, and the issue was dropped.
Mr. Issa said this issue isn’t critical on its own, but coupled with everything else it creates a “pattern of behavior” that suggests targeting of conservative groups.
• Jacqueline Klimas can be reached at jklimas@washingtontimes.com.
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