IRS Bombshell: Lerner's Blackberry 'Wiped Clean' After Congress Began Inquiry



Published on Aug 26, 2014
New information into Fox News shows that Lois Lerner's Blackberry was destroyed after the IRS knew that a congressional inquiry was underway in the Tea Party targeting scandal. The Blackberry was apparently "wiped clean" as Congress began to look into the targeting of conservative groups by Lerner's office.

Jay Sekulow, chief counsel at the American Center for Law and Justice, said on America's Newsroom this morning that this is yet another reason why Lerner should face criminal charges.

"If you intentionally destroy evidence, that is a crime. If you make a statement in court saying the evidence is not available and it is, that's also a crime. So there's multiple levels here," said Sekulow, who represents dozens of conservative groups that say they were illegally targeted by the IRS.

Judicial Watch told Fox News on Monday that DOJ attorneys intimated that Lerner's supposedly lost emails likely still exist on backup computers. In previous testimony to Congress, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said that the emails could not be recovered.

Sekulow said this all part of the Justice Department's strategy to stall the investigation at least until the November elections are over.

"The conflict of interest here is so significant, that you've got the Department of Justice basically investigating itself for activity that they engaged in, which may also be criminal. This whole thing, I call it a faux investigation. These are not real investigations," he said, revealing that one of the DOJ attorneys who is defending the IRS actually worked in Lerner's office and was "part of the targeting."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFG1F8ROBsQ