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> The irs keeps 6 months of emails on tape; when investigators asked for emails in mid-2013, tape was available through late 2012.

IRS guidelines state that official records, in accordance with the Federal Records Act, must be retained (at the very least archived as a hardcopy). So the IRS is institutionally violating their own guidelines, as well as federal law?

> 2011 < 2013, it's not as if she could know that her emails would be requested in the future.

Except for the letter sent by Chairman Camp to then-Commissioner Schulman riiiiight before the crash: http://waysandmeans.house.gov/uploadedfiles/non_6103_ltr_fin...

I'm not interested in the political side of this whatsoever, but you have to realize that Mother Jones is about as non-partisan as the National Review is[1] and is not going to convince those who would like a more neutral view. I'm not saying this analysis is wrong but could have picked a better source IMO...

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Modern_liberal_America...

> it's not as if she could know that her emails would be requested in the future.

Really? You do something illegal, or unethical and don't expect anyone to ever come check up on you?

The IRS should be saving emails forever, or at the very minimum for 3 years.