--- title: IRS Commissioner on IRS Scandal : "Nobody's Hiding Anything" description: IRS Commissioner defended his office's conduct canonical: https://time.com/2889509/irs-commissioner-on-email-scandal-nobodys-hiding-anything/ author: Francesca Trianni article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-17T19:21:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T08:57:33.346Z article:section: Politics og:title: IRS Commissioner on IRS Scandal : "Nobody's Hiding Anything" og:description: IRS Commissioner defended his office's conduct og:url: https://time.com/2889509/irs-commissioner-on-email-scandal-nobodys-hiding-anything/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt028aff66ce3edd0b/698698053bc999e5cd1a4201/john-koskinen.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4184 og:image:height: 2354 og:image:alt: John Koskinen og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: IRS Commissioner on IRS Scandal : "Nobody's Hiding Anything" twitter:description: IRS Commissioner defended his office's conduct twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt028aff66ce3edd0b/698698053bc999e5cd1a4201/john-koskinen.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # IRS Commissioner on Email Scandal : 'Nobody's Hiding Anything' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=4700172b-f224-4f55-bd30-5fceb75d7e11&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: IRS Commissioner on Carsh Hard Drives [Watch (HLS stream): IRS Commissioner on Carsh Hard Drives](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/QRkin0Y6.m3u8) (0:25)  _Published 2014-06-17. IRS Commissioner:_  by [Francesca Trianni](https://time.com/author/francesca-trianni/)  ## Francesca Trianni Jun 17, 2014 7:21 PM UTC  by [Francesca Trianni](https://time.com/author/francesca-trianni/)  ## Francesca Trianni Jun 17, 2014 7:21 PM UTC IRS Commissioner John Koskinen defended his office’s conduct in the [scandal](http://time.com/2887270/lerners-lost-e-mails-republicans-press-obama-administration-on-tea-party-scrutiny/) over the tax agency’s alleged targeting of conservative groups Monday, after it admitted losing a trove of emails at the center of a congressional probe. The IRS said that more than two years worth of e-mails disappeared as a consequence of a hard drive crashing in 2011\. When asked by a CNN reporter about the missing emails and the crashed hard drive, Koskinen said: “I spent three weeks trying to restore it back in 2011, we’ve got 24,000 mails from that period so nobody’s hiding anything.” Koskinen has been at the center of a House Ways and Means Committee investigation into how and why the Internal Revenue Service applied additional scrutiny on applications for tax-exempt status of political action groups. Last week, the IRS informed congressional investigators that [it could not recover ](http://online.wsj.com/articles/irs-provides-more-emails-in-conservative-group-targeting-probe-1402684543)two years of emails from Lois Lerner, the former head of the agency’s tax-exempt status department. Lerner was directly involved in questioning the tax-exempt status of conservative political groups applying for tax-exempt status, [documents showed.](http://time.com/56760/irs-lois-lerner-crossroads/) The House Ways and Means Committee has urged prosecutors to pursue criminal charges against Lerner, who has repeatedly refused to testify on Fifth Amendment grounds. But evidence suggests that liberal groups were also targeted by IRS investigators, and a congressional probe has so far failed to show a connection to the White House. Koskinen suggested on Monday that many of Lerner’s emails might still be retrievable from other computers within the IRS. “Even though her hard drive crashed, didn’t mean that their hard drive crashed so they have those emails.” The IRS claim that it had lost the electronic correspondence sparked outrage among congressional investigators, as they were hoping that the emails would shed light on whether anyone outside the tax agency was involved in the alleged targeting of conservative groups. “We are simply not going to accept the IRS claim that these documents are not recoverable,” [said](http://time.com/2887270/lerners-lost-e-mails-republicans-press-obama-administration-on-tea-party-scrutiny/) House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp. Koskinen [agreed Monday to testify ](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2014/06/16/issa-koskinen-irs-lerner-emails/10635601/)to two House committees about the e-mails. ## Transcript Everybody's skeptical about these missing emails and a crashed hard drive. What do you think? Well they spent three weeks trying to restore it back in 2011 and it they, we have 24 thousand emails from that period so no body's hiding anything. It's that the 24 thousand emails in that period are kind of the mirror. So, everybody she sent one to even though her hard drive crashed. Didn't mean that their hard drive crashed. 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