WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing a furor from angry Republican lawmakers, the White House said Monday that the Internal Revenue Service engaged in a good faith effort to find lost emails from an IRS official whose division processed applications for tax-exempt status by politically oriented groups.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest called criticism from Republican lawmakers about the missing emails, quote, “far-fetched” and “not particularly believable.” The IRS says the emails to and from the official, Lois Lerner, disappeared when her computer crashed in 2011.