MSNBC host Joe Scarborough was furious at The New York Times Tuesday morning for burying news of a new Treasury Department investigation into the mysteriously lost emails of former IRS official Lois Lerner and six others.
But although they buried the story on page A19, they did report it — unlike The Washington Post, who’s print edition Tuesday morning completely ignored the news.
On Monday night, news broke that the Treasury Department’s inspector general had opened an investigation into how two years of former IRS Exempt Divisions head Lois Lerner’s email were lost after her computer crashed and was then destroyed.
GOP lawmakers suspect a deliberate cover-up, given that Lerner is at the center of an alleged IRS campaign against conservative and tea party groups seeking tax-exempt status.
CNN managed to get a story up about the new investigation on Monday night. The New York Times may have given in short shrift, but it did show up in their newspaper Tuesday morning.
Take a look at the front page of the Post, however. There are stories on new EPA regulations, the D.C. Metro’s new Silver Line, Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Iraq, ISIS slaughtering of civilians, civilian drone use, and a piece on new “bionic” implants. No IRS Treasury investigation. No IRS at all.
Page A2 sees liberal columnist Dana Millbank describing Monday night’s contentious House hearing with IRS Commissioner John Koskinen — but not a word about the new investigation. And throughout all 19 pages of the A section, the Treasury inspector general’s announcement never comes up.
In fact, the only mention The Daily Caller can find of the pending investigation in The Washington Post — online or in print — is a single line in an article about Koskinen’s Monday night hearing. “Koskinen said the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has begun investigating the missing records,” the online story read.
Fox News host Bill Hemmer discussed the omission with Lou Dobbs. “Washington Post, print copy,” he said, holding up the paper. “Nothing.”
“It — it’s not there?” an incredulous Dobbs replied. “Not — not in the nation’s –”
“In the entire A section,” Hemmer confirmed. “Now the online reporting is a little different this morning, so they’ve caught up to that story. But nothing in there.”
