IG’s Office Admits IRS Withheld Hundreds of Tapes, Documents from Investigators

Inspector General's Office Admits IRS Withheld Hundreds Of Tapes, Documents From Investigators (RealClearPolitics)

At an oversight hearing in Congress on Thursday, Timothy Camus of the office of the Inspector General revealed that the IRS has withheld hundred of tapes and documents relating to the investigation of illegal political targeting during the 2012 election. 

REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OHIO), OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: Are these the only tapes you've got? 

TIMOTHY CAMUS, DEPUTY INSPECTOR GENERAL, TREASURY DEPT.: No. Two weeks ago we recovered an additional 424 tapes. 

REP. JORDAN: All right, so that is what you put out near the end of your testimony. 744 tapes originally, and now you've obtained 424 more. How did you find out about these tapes? 

CAMUS: We were following up on our initial interviews, we realized we were missing a document, obtained that document and reviewed it, realized there were an additional population of tapes that have been unaccounted for.

REP. JORDAN: So missing a document; whose document was that? Who should have given you that document?

CAMUS: It was an IRS document. 

REP. JORDAN: They withheld a document from you? That prevented you from figuring out there were more tapes than the [original] 744, is that accurate?

CAMUS: Withholding a document, I can't characterize that as--

REP. JORDAN: Withholding a document, and by not having the document, you couldn't figure out that there were more tapes out there, with potentially more Lois Lerner email on them. 

CAMUS: That would be accurate.

REP. JORDAN: Yep. So, do you have any concerns about the fact that that document wasn't there? How did you figure out the document was missing? 

CAMUS: At the conclusion of our investigation, following up we made sure we have all the documents. We determined we were short one document, demanded it, and obtained it. Then we were able to notice that there was a population of tapes that were never disclosed.