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发帖数: 29846 | 1 Networks Refuse to Report Latest IRS Scandal Revelations
By Geoffrey Dickens | July 28, 2014 | 10:55
The saga of Lois Lerner’s missing emails took a bunch of twists and turns
this past week, but you wouldn’t know that if you only got your news from
the Big Three (ABC, CBS, NBC) networks. On July 21, it was reported that
even more IRS officials had their hard drives crash on them, including
employees who “routinely corresponded” with Lerner. What a coincidence! On
that same day it was revealed that a top IRS official was uncertain if
backup tapes of Lerner’s lost emails still existed. The next day the story
changed again when it was reported that Lerner’s hard drive was only “
scratched” and the data was recoverable.
Then on July 23 the head of the IRS testified that the back up tapes had
finally been discovered but stressed he does not “how they found them” or
“whether there’s anything on them or not.” So how many of these
intriguing nuggets were reported on any of the network evening or morning
shows last week?
Zero.
The last time the IRS story was mentioned on the Big Three nets was almost a
week ago on the July 19 CBS This Morning. The last time ABC offered an IRS
story was on the July 17 Good Morning America. And you have to go all the
way back to last month (June 24 Today show) to find the last time NBC
touched the scandal.
And the Lerner missing email story didn’t exactly heat up coverage of the
IRS targeting controversy. Since the story first broke over a month ago on
June 13 there have been a total of just 18 stories (CBS 10, NBC 5, ABC 3) on
the IRS scandal through the morning of July 28.
The following is a list of the IRS revelations from this past week that have
NOT been covered by the networks:
More Crashed Hard Drives at the IRS Reported
On July 21 The Blaze reported the following:
A senior Obama administration official has told the House Oversight and
Government Reform Committee that several other IRS officials have had “
computer problems” over the last few years, including some who were close
to former IRS employee Lois Lerner.
The committee released a partial transcript of an interview it conducted
last week with IRS Deputy Associate Chief Counsel Tom Kane, who reported the
computer problems. When asked how many others might be having this problem,
Kane said it was “less than 20.”
The IRS has told the House that several more IRS workers have experienced a
computer crash, including some who worked with former IRS official Lois
Lerner. Among that number are a few who worked closely at the IRS division
dealing with tax-exempt organizations, which Lerner headed. Lerner has since
become the prime target of Republican investigators, although the GOP has
been hindered by the supposed loss of her emails.
According to the committee, another IRS official who suffered computer
problems is Justin Lowe, a technical adviser to the commissioner of Tax-
Exempt and Government Entities.
Another is David Fish, an adviser to Lois Lerner. Andy Megosh was also named
; he is a manager of Exempt Organizations Guidance.
Kane also noted that the computer of Kimberly Kitchens, an IRS agent in
Cincinnati who donated to President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign,
also crashed. Lerner originally blamed low-level officials in Cincinnati for
the targeting scandal.
Network coverage: 0 stories
IRS Official Says Backup of Lois Lerner’s Emails May Not Exist
On July 21 Politico reported the following:
A top IRS official is now uncertain about whether backup tapes of the lost
Lois Lerner emails may exist, according to testimony released by Republicans
— a potentially significant plot twist in the controversy that has shaken
the IRS in recent weeks.
IRS Deputy Associate Chief Counsel Thomas Kane, who oversees the tax-
collecting agency’s document production to Congress, told the House
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in private testimony that he’s
now unsure whether all the backup tapes with correspondence from the ex-IRS
official were recycled.
“I don’t know if there is a backup tape with information on it or there
isn’t,” he told investigators Thursday, according to a partial transcript
released by Republicans on the committee Monday.
The IRS official suggested new information has come to light since the IRS
revealed in a June 13 letter to Congress that two years of Lerner emails
were lost in a 2011 computer crash. Lerner was the head of the tax-exempt
division that singled out conservative groups for additional scrutiny and
since has become a lightning rod for Republicans probing the matter.
Network coverage: 0 stories
Lerner Hard Drive Was Only ‘Scratched’
On July 22 NBCNews.com reported:
Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee say that their
investigators have learned that the hard drive belonging to former IRS
official Lois Lerner was “scratched” and that data was recoverable,
according to a release from the committee.
The release says that it’s unclear if the scratch was put there
deliberately or accidentally. Republicans are now accusing the IRS of not
being forthcoming after they said in court filings that the data on Lerner's
hard drive was unrecoverable.
“It is unbelievable that we cannot get a simple, straight answer from the
IRS about this hard drive,” Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-
MI) said in a statement, “The Committee was told no data was recoverable
and the physical drive was recycled and potentially shredded. To now learn
that the hard drive was only scratched, yet the IRS refused to utilize
outside experts to recover the data, raises more questions about potential
criminal wrong doing at the IRS.”
Network coverage: 0 stories
IRS Head Confirms Investigators Have Found Lerner’s Backup Tapes
On July 23 FoxNews.com reported the following:
The head of the IRS confirmed Wednesday that investigators looking into
missing emails from ex-agency official Lois Lerner have found and are
reviewing “backup tapes” -- despite earlier IRS claims that the tapes had
been recycled.
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, testifying before a House oversight
subcommittee, stressed that he does not know “how they found them” or “
whether there’s anything on them or not.” But he said the inspector
general’s office advised him the investigators are reviewing tapes to see
if they contain any “recoverable” material.
The revelation is significant because the IRS claimed, when the agency first
told Congress about the missing emails, that backup tapes “no longer exist
because they have been recycled.”
Network coverage: 0 stories |
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