Gasps Greet IRS Head's Revelation Lerner's Computer Was Destroyed

Loud gasps could be heard when IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told the House Ways and Means Committee Friday that former supervisor Lois Lerner's computer was destroyed after computer experts could not retrieve its contents.

The reactions came during a tense session in which Koskinen was sharply questioned by House Republicans about the latest revelations in the long-running saga of the agency's targeting of conservative, tea party, and religious groups.

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Koskinen was being questioned by Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, the committee's chairman, the Gateway Pundit reports.

Here is the exchange between Camp and Koskinen, based on a transcript provided to The Wall Street Journal by Federal News Service:

Rep. Camp: "Your letter describes the Lois Lerner emails as being unrecoverable."
Koskinen: "Correct."
Camp: "But fails to mention where the damaged hard drive is today. Do you know where the actual hard drive is that crashed in 2011?"
Koskinen: "I’m advised the actual hard drive, after it was determined that it was dysfunctional and that, with experts, no emails could be retrieved, was recycled then destroyed in the normal process."
GASPS OCCURRED …
Camp: "So was it physically destroyed?"
Koskinen: "That’s my understanding."
Camp: "So was it melted down, do you know?"
Koskinen: "I have no idea what the recycler does with it. This was three years ago. …"

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