AP
The Lois Lerner saga bubbled back up to the surface again after it was revealed the former IRS chief had suggested auditing Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley. It all started when Lerner, who has been accused of unfairly targeting conservative groups for IRS scrutiny, accidentally received an invitation meant for Grassley for a panel they had both been invited to speak to. From ABC News:
The group mixed up their tickets and Grassley's invitation indicated that the group was also paying for Grassley's wife to travel and attend the seminar. Grassley's wife, Barbara, is a lobbyist.'
Grassley's office says invite which went to Lerner was in Spring '13. Says he rejected invite because Congress was in session. #IRS
- Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) June 25, 2014
And so the back-burnered scandal has come roaring back again. The e-mails, which were uncovered earlier today, signaled what could be construed as distaste for Grassley by Lerner:
Don't think I want to be on stage with Grassley on this issue.'
House Ways and Means Committee Chair Dave Camp, who released the e-mails had this to say:
At every turn, Lerner was using the IRS as a tool for political purposes in defiance of taxpayer rights. We may never know the full extent of the abuse since the IRS conveniently lost two years of Lerner emails, not to mention those of other key figures in this scandal.'
The development also unleashed a torrent of internet scorn against Lerner:
How can someone who acted 'SO STUPIDLY' be named LERNER? http://ift.tt/1wyZxUN
- Old Bald Fat Guy (@Old_BaldFat_Guy) June 25, 2014
And some sarcasm from the Washington Free Beacon, which has been all over the loss of the emails, that the IRS blames on a computer crash.
The lost emails probably show that Lerner was targeting Democratic senators for audits in equal measure
- Michael Goldfarb (@thegoldfarb) June 25, 2014
We'll be hearing more about this in coming days, you can bet on that.
Entities 0 Name: Lerner Count: 8 1 Name: Grassley Count: 7 2 Name: IRS Count: 5 3 Name: Congress Count: 1 4 Name: Lois Lerner Count: 1 5 Name: House Ways and Means Committee Chair Dave Camp Count: 1 6 Name: Chad Pergram Count: 1 7 Name: Washington Free Beacon Count: 1 8 Name: Sen. Chuck Grassley Count: 1 9 Name: Michael Goldfarb Count: 1 10 Name: Democratic Count: 1 11 Name: Barbara Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1rvD8Vq Title: Thousands of missing emails at IRS: What's it all about? Description: A year after the Internal Revenue Service was found to be targeting conservative groups and others seeking tax-exempt status, the scandal has erupted again with disclosures that the agency lost thousands of emails from a former official at the center of the controversy.
