Former IRS official refers to Republicans as 'crazies'

Former IRS official refers to Republicans as 'crazies'
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

From Politico:

Ex-IRS official Lois Lerner refers to some Republicans as "a--holes" and "crazies" in an exchange from 2012, according to emails released by House Republicans on Wednesday.

"Maybe we are through if there are that many a--holes," the former head of the IRS tax-exempt division wrote in an exchange with an unnamed non-IRS official, dated Nov. 9, 2012. Later she added: "We don't need to worry about alien terrorists. It's our own crazies that will take us down." [Politico]

Lerner at the time was at the center of a controversy in which Republicans had accused the IRS of targeting Tea Party groups for scrutiny.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More

Ryu Spaeth is deputy editor at TheWeek.com. Follow him on Twitter.