Rep. Jim Jordan pressed Attorney General Loretta Lynch Tuesday on why the head of the IRS has not faced consequences for misleading Congress about the status of documents.
“That sure looks like [IRS Commissioner] John Koskinen and the Internal Revenue Service concealed information and destroyed information,” Jordan said after outlining a timeline that suggests employees under Koskinen deleted requested emails after he had promised to provide them to lawmakers.
The Ohio Republican noted IRS employees had erased back-up tapes containing the emails of Lois Lerner, former head of the tax agency’s nonprofit unit, after receiving three separate preservation orders and two subpoenas for the tapes.
“With respect to the matter that you’ve raised, we did review the issues surrounding Ms. Lerner’s emails and the backup tapes,” Lynch told Jordan during a House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday. “We are looking for evidence of criminal intent.”
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Lynch said the Justice Department had found no evidence that Koskinen or Lerner deliberately evaded investigators by concealing documents.
Jordan questioned Lynch as to how often her agency has direct evidence of criminal intent in other fraud cases.
“It certainly was a matter that was under review,” Lynch said.
The Justice Department announced last month that it would not press charges against anyone involved in the alleged targeting of conservative groups by the IRS tax-exempt unit, despite several congressional investigations that unearthed evidence of misconduct.
The congressional probes were stalled last year after IRS officials announced Lerner’s hard drive had crashed, destroying thousands of her emails.
