WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says the Internal Revenue Service has engaged in a good faith effort to
find lost emails from an IRS official whose division processed applications for tax-exempt status by
politically oriented groups.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest called criticism from Republican lawmakers about the missing emails,
quote, “far-fetched” and “not particularly believable.”
The IRS says the emails to and from the official, Lois Lerner, disappeared when her computer crashed in
2011.
The IRS acknowledged last year that agents improperly scrutinized applications by some conservative
groups. Documents have shown some liberal groups were also flagged.
Earnest said the IRS has produced 67,000 emails to and from Lerner. He said the IRS has tried to track
down missing e-mails through other sources and those recovered have been provided to Congress.