GOP skeptical of explanation for lost tea party emails

WASHINGTON -- The head of the House Oversight Committee said Thursday it "defies any sense of logic" that IRS employees mistakenly erased computer backup tapes containing thousands of emails related to the tax agency's tea-party scandal.

The IRS inspector general told the committee IRS workers erased hundreds of computer backup tapes that "most likely" contained as many as 24,000 emails to and from former IRS official Lois Lerner.

Lerner has emerged as a central figure in congressional investigations.

The inspector general said there was no evidence the tapes -- or any of the emails -- were erased as part of a criminal conspiracy to destroy evidence.

"You add this all in combination, it just defies any sense of logic," said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the Oversight Committee. "It gets to the point where it truly gets to be unbelievable. Somebody has to be held accountable."

The committee's top Democrat, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, said the revelations are further proof Republicans have overblown the scandal in an attempt to smear the Obama administration.

"This investigation has squandered tens of millions of taxpayer dollars in a failed scavenger hunt for any possible evidence to support wild Republican accusations against Lois Lerner, the IRS and the White House," Cummings said.

J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration, testified Thursday before the Oversight Committee.

George said the workers erased the backup tapes a month after IRS officials discovered an untold number of Lerner's emails were lost.

He said the workers were unaware of a year-old directive not to destroy email backup tapes.

The revelation is fueling conspiracy theories among conservatives who say the IRS has obstructed investigations into the scandal.

Chaffetz did not criticize George's investigation. But he criticized the IRS for what he called "destruction of evidence."

"They have found no evidence that this was done willfully, that this was some purposeful direction from any one person, whether it be the White House or below," Chaffetz said.

"Understood. But the bottom line is, they had the evidence, there was a preservation order in place, there was a subpoena in place, and that evidence was destroyed."

An IRS spokeswoman said the agency had no immediate comment.