Sparks Fly as Gowdy, Issa Own Smug New IRS Commissioner

Trey Gowdy spanks Koskinen:

Trey Gowdy, R- South Carolina came down hard on IRS Commissioner John Koskinen at a Monday night hearing on Capitol Hill.

Gowdy showed his chops by educating the commissioner on “spoliation of evidence,” a legal term meaning the jury can draw a negative inference if a party fails to preserve evidence that could be damaging.

“It’s common sense, right?” Gowdy asked.

After a making sure Koskinen had a firm understanding of the concept,  Gowdy continued by saying the Internal Revenue Service is not above the law and that this principle applies to the agency the same way it applies to the American people.

Backed into a corner, Koskinen deflected by asking, “Is this a trial? Is this a jury?”

The smug response opened the floodgates to a whole new line of questioning.

“If you want to go down that road, I’ll be happy to go down that road with you, Commissioner,” Gowdy exclaimed. “In fact, I’m glad you mentioned it.

“You have already said multiple times today that there was no evidence that you found of any criminal wrongdoing,” Gowdy said. “I want you to tell me what criminal statutes you’ve evaluated.”

“How would you know what elements of the crime existed?” Gowdy asked. “You don’t even know what statutes are in play.”

This led to a lengthy discussion about White House involvement.

Which incidentally, is blatantly obvious.   Obama met with top IRS official William Wilkins before the targeting began.  As a matter of fact, a Cincinnati IRS employee testified that it was quite clear the orders came from D.C.

Under Obama’s direction, the IRS didn’t have any trouble defining his preference of sympathetic leftwing groups over Tea Party/GOP organizations. Any request from groups with “patriot”, Tea Party”, or “conservative” in their name was automatically placed at the bottom of the pile or discarded entirely.  IRS employees testified to that fact, and much more.

His fucking fingerprints are all over this.

Darrell Issa’s turn:

U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., wasted no time going afterIRS Commissioner John Koskinen Monday in an attempt to get to the bottom of Lois Lerner’s missing emails.

The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee pressed Koskinen during a rare evening hearing, asking why all Lerner’s emails weren’t backed up on the server. Some were kept on the C-drive of her computer.

“All emails are not official records under any official records act,” Koskinen said, seeming to contradict IRS rules that require printing all emails and a backup of all systems, according to The Blaze.

Koskinen blamed a budget shortfall, saying it would cost $30 million to overhaul the backup systems.

That’s a drop in the bucket for the IRS’s $1.8 billion IT budget, Issa pointed out.

“On $1.8 billion, isn’t the retention of key documents that the American people need to count on, like whether or not they’re being honestly treated by your employees?” Issa asked. “Isn’t that, in fact, a priority that should’ve allowed for full retention?”

After more back and forth, Issa let his anger show.

“My time has expired and I’ve lost my patience with you,” he said.

Dem Elijah Cummings, who is a co-conspirator in the IRS scandal, was *SOB* brought to tears over the meany Republicans questioning the IRS’ criminal activity:

Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland, has people still scratching their heads this morning with the almost tearful, emotional speech he gave during the hearing on Lois Lerner’s lost emails Monday night on Capitol Hill.

You have to watch the video to truly understand the depth of his acting pain. Here are some descriptions from the Twitter crowd, and some via Twitchy: