--- description: Lois Lerner, the former Internal Revenue Service official at the center of a scandal, called Republicans "crazies." title: IRS Official Lois Lerner Calls Republicans 'Crazies' and '—holes' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt78054319f1208930/69869dd83bc999d8501a4beb/lois-lerner.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [controversy](/tag/controversy/) ## controversy Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Emails: Former IRS Official Lois Lerner Called Republicans 'Crazies' and '—holes' by [Alex Rogers](/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 30, 2014 6:20 PM CUT  Former Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner exercises her Fifth Amendment right not to speak about the IRS targeting investigation before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee during a hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building on March 5, 2014 in Washington. Former Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner exercises her Fifth Amendment right not to speak about the IRS targeting investigation before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee during a hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building on March 5, 2014 in Washington.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Alex Rogers](/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 30, 2014 6:20 PM CUT Lois Lerner, the former Internal Revenue Service official at the center of a scandal involving that agency’s targeting of conservative groups, called Republicans “crazies” and “assholes,” according to emails released Wednesday. Lerner’s messages were released by House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp as part of an investigation looking into possible criminal wrongdoing at the IRS. The emails released by Camp’s committee were redacted to use the language “—holes,” but a Camp spokesperson confirmed the original emails read “assholes.” Lerner resigned from her post overseeing tax-exempt groups last September. In work [emails](http://waysandmeans.house.gov/uploadedfiles/lerner%5Femail%5Fa.pdf "undefined") exchanged November 2012 with an unidentified person, Lerner knocks the “whacko wing” of the Republican Party and conservative radio shows. Camp said in a statement that he hopes the released emails urge the Justice Department to “aggressively pursue this case” and appoint a special counsel. In May 2013, Lerner acknowledged that the IRS chose groups with “tea party” in their name for additional review in determining their tax-exempt status as social welfare groups. A spokesman for Rep. Sandy Levin (D-Mich.), the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, did not respond to a request for comment. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3059918/lois-lerner-republicans/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3059918/lois-lerner-republicans/"},"headline":"Emails: Former IRS Official Lois Lerner Called Republicans 'Crazies' and '—holes'","datePublished":"2014-07-30T18:20:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:25:32.643Z","description":"House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp released new emails from former IRS official Lois Lerner as part of investigation examining potential criminal wrongdoing","url":"https://time.com/3059918/lois-lerner-republicans/","keywords":["controversy","Republican Party","IRS"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt78054319f1208930/69869dd83bc999d8501a4beb/lois-lerner.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Rogers","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt78054319f1208930/69869dd83bc999d8501a4beb/lois-lerner.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Former IRS Director Lois Lerner Testifies To A House Oversight Committee On IRS Targeting Scandal","caption":"Former IRS Director Lois Lerner Testifies To A House Oversight Committee On IRS Targeting Scandal","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/controversy/","name":"controversy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3059918/lois-lerner-republicans/","name":"Emails: Former IRS Official Lois Lerner Called Republicans 'Crazies' and '—holes'"}}]}] ```