During a hearing this morning regarding the Department of Justice’s response to the IRS targeting scandal, Deputy Attorney General James Cole explained how the department learned about Lois Lerner’s two years of missing IRS emails. And they found out the only way an Obama department could – through the media.
Via a press release from the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform:
In response to a question from Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) in today’s House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Job Creation, and Regulatory Affairs hearing on the U.S. Department of Justice’s response to the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative tax-exempt applicants, Deputy Attorney General James Cole said that the Justice Department learned of two years of missing IRS emails only after Congress and press reports on June 13th, 2014:
Rep. DeSantis: “Mr. Cole, we learned in Congress on June 13th, 2014 that two years-worth of Lois Lerner’s emails were missing—the IRS would not produce those. When did the Justice Department learn of that fact?”
Deputy Attorney General James Cole: “I think we learned about it after that from the press accounts that were in the paper following the IRS’ notification to the Congress.”
Watch video of the exchange below…
As many of our readers know, the White House learns about a majority of their scandals via media reports. So it’s little surprise that the Justice Department, an arm of the administration that one would think would be interested in investigating corruption, instead were beaten to the punch by the media.
One of Obama’s first scandals, the Fast and Furious gun running program, was unknown to the DOJ – allegedly – until they heard of the tactics through media reports.
More recently, the administration also learned of the VA scandal through media reports.
What else has the President learned through the media?
The time the Justice Department seized records from the Associated Press? Media reports.
Low-flying plane in Manhattan? Media reports.
The IRS targeting scandal in general? Of course, media reports.
Here’s a helpful montage from our friends at the Washington Free Beacon:
