Second federal judge wants info on lost IRS emails

FILE - This March 5, 2014 file photo shows former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) official Lois Lerner speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. A federal judge is ordering the IRS to explain _ under oath _ how it lost a trove of emails to and from a central figure in the agency's tea party controversy. U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan gave the tax agency a month to submit the explanation in writing. Sullivan issued the order Thursday as part of a freedom of information lawsuit by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group. The IRS says it lost the emails in 2011 when Lois Lerner’s computer crashed. At the time, Lerner headed the IRS division that processes applications for tax-exempt status. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke, File) FILE - This March 5, 2014 file photo shows former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) official Lois Lerner speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. A federal judge is ordering the IRS to explain _ under oath _ how it lost a trove of emails to and from a central figure in the agency's tea party controversy. U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan gave the tax agency a month to submit the explanation in writing. Sullivan issued the order Thursday as part of a freedom of information lawsuit by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group. The IRS says it lost the emails in 2011 when Lois Lerner’s computer crashed. At the time, Lerner headed the IRS division that processes applications for tax-exempt status. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke, File)

By Associated Press July 11, 2014 3 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – A second federal judge has ordered the IRS to provide information about lost emails from a central figure in the agency’s tea party controversy.

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said Friday he wants to know whatever became of Lois Lerner’s computer hard drive. IRS officials say Lerner’s computer crashed in 2011, destroying an untold number of emails.

At the time, Lerner headed the IRS division that processes applications for tax-exempt status. She has since retired.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen has told Congress that Lerner’s hard drive was recycled and presumably destroyed. If that’s the case, Walton said he wants a sworn affidavit saying so by the end of next week.

Walton also wants information about the IRS inspector general’s investigation into the lost emails.