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DOJ Closes Two-Year Investigation Into IRS Targeting Scandal — There Will Be No Charges Filed

US

Controversial former IRS employee Lois Lerner will not face any charges.

Jason Howerton
October 23, 2015
FILE - This May 22, 2013 file photo shows Internal Revenue Service (IRS) official Lois Lerner on Capitol Hill in Washington. The IRS says it has lost a trove of emails to and from a central figure in the agency's tea party controversy. The IRS told congressional investigators Friday it cannot locate many of Lois Lerner's emails prior to 2011 because her computer crashed that year. Lerner headed the IRS division that processed applications for tax-exempt status. The IRS acknowledged last year that agents had improperly scrutinized applications for tax-exempt status by tea party and other conservative groups. The IRS was able to generate 24,000 Lerner emails from 2009 to 2011 because Lerner had copied in other IRS employees. But an untold number are gone. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File

The U.S. Department of Justice informed lawmakers on Friday that its closing the two-year investigation into whether the IRS improperly targeted conservative groups. There will be no charges filed against ex-IRS employee Lois Lerner -- or anyone else for that matter.

FILE - This May 22, 2013 file photo shows Internal Revenue Service (IRS) official Lois Lerner on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) FILE - This May 22, 2013 file photo shows Internal Revenue Service (IRS) official Lois Lerner on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

In a letter obtained by CNN, Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik claimed the investigation found "substantial evidence of mismanagement, poor judgment and institutional inertia leading to the belief by many tax-exempt applicants that the IRS targeted them based on their political viewpoints. But poor management is not a crime."

"We found no evidence that any IRS official acted based on political, discriminatory, corrupt, or other inappropriate motives that would support a criminal prosecution," the letter added.

The Justice Department also apparently uncovered no evidence that IRS officials attempted to "obstruct justice." Critics quickly suggested wrongdoing may have taken place after Lerner claimed her hard drive "crashed" and was later destroyed before members of Congress could review its contents.

She later pleaded the Fifth Amendment when Congress wanted her to testify.

"Based on the evidence developed in this investigation and the recommendation of experienced career prosecutors and supervising attorneys at the department, we are closing our investigation and will not seek any criminal charges," the DOJ said in the letter.

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