Topic: Irs Emails

A new Inspector General report criticizes U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy for using private email for official business. Additionally, it is revealed that former IRS official Lois Lerner used a secret email account under the name "Toby Miles." The hosts link these stories to the broader theme of government officials bypassing transparency rules.

The Treasury Department Inspector General reveals that 32,000 "lost" Lois Lerner emails were found on backup tapes. The hosts highlight the testimony that the IRS IT professional tasked with finding the emails, Stephen Manning, is legally blind. They argue this demonstrates a lack of effort by the IRS to comply with the investigation into the targeting of political groups.

The investigation into missing IRS emails belonging to Lois Lerner is scrutinized. Technical experts (referred to as "dudes named Ben") explain that the IRS used SonaSoft's SonaVault, a system designed specifically to prevent data loss from hard drive crashes, making the official "crashed drive" excuse highly improbable.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen testified that the agency limits employee email storage to 6,000 messages due to server capacity and budget constraints. Representative Darrell Issa challenged this claim, pointing to the agency's $1.8 billion IT budget. The discussion explores the technical absurdity of a major federal agency being unable to afford modern archiving solutions that are standard in the private sector.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen faces intense questioning from Congressman Paul Ryan regarding the loss of two years of emails. The discussion highlights the technical implausibility of the hard drive failures and the existence of SonaSoft, the agency's email archiving contractor.

The IRS claims that a computer crash resulted in the loss of an untold number of emails from Lois Lerner, a key figure in the tea party targeting scandal. White House spokesperson Josh Earnest dismissed concerns, asking reporters if they had "never heard of a computer crashing before." Critics argue that no professional IT operation would fail to have backups or would "recycle" hard drives containing subpoenaed data.

The IRS's claim that it lost years of Lois Lerner's emails due to a "computer glitch" is contrasted with the strict data retention requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. While private sector executives face up to 20 years in prison for failing to maintain email archives, the IRS Commissioner John Koskinen suggests that retrieving the subpoenaed documents would take years. The hosts argue that the government is exempting itself from the very transparency laws it imposes on corporations.

The hosts discuss the aggressive nature of IRS enforcement, noting that agents are armed and have the authority to eavesdrop on emails. Personal anecdotes are shared regarding the IRS's ability to track individuals internationally to ensure tax compliance.