I cannot recall an instance where a federal agency lied about a FOIA request but maybe the IRS was out to make history. The Internal Revenue Service denied the existence of any documents related to its policy of targeting Tea Party organizations in response to a 2010 Freedom of Information Act request but surprise! The Inspector General found the requested documents. The 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, a conservative nonprofit group, filed a FOIA request in 2010 seeking all IRS documents related to the agencies tax-exempt division specifically mentioning the Tea Party. The IRS responded it had no such documents but they were found and mentioned in the May 14 inspector general's report.
“Either IRS Headquarters was entirely incompetent in maintaining awareness of prominent policies and documents within the IRS, or it deliberately covered up the existence of anti-conservative IRS policies. Either is terrifying,” Maurice Thompson, Executive Director of the 1851 Center, said in a statement. “Legal action is necessary to ensure that the IRS does not lie to taxpayers in this manner in the future.”
Elsewhere, Fox19 in Cincinnati has identified 5 agents in the regional office who engaged in the targeting of tea party groups. This local television station has done outstanding reporting on the IRS's abuse of tea party groups.
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