WASHINGTON (WNB) - IRS employees testifying before the House Oversight Committee say that former IRS head Lois Lerner's hard drive appeared to have failed due to "impact damage."
An IRS technician who was summoned to repair Lerner's computer found the hard drive had 'crashed.' Upon examination, it was determined that data on the unit was non-recoverable because of the severity of the failure. The following is an excerpt from the hearing:
Rep. Jim Jordon (R-Ohio): Mr. Walker, as the IRS IT technician sent to repair Mrs. Lerner's computer, in your professional opinion, what caused the hard drive to crash or fail?
IRS technician Chris Walker: I'd say possibly an impact.
Rep. Jordon: Like the computer was jarred?
Walker: In a manner of speaking, yes.
Rep. Jordon: The computer had impact damage?
Walker: Well, not to the PC, but the hard drive.
Rep. Jordan: The computer was fine, but the hard drive inside had damage?
Walker: Yes.
Rep. Jordan: What kind of impact damage are we talking about here?
Walker: It's hard to say. Like maybe an axe or something like that.
Rep. Jordon: It had dents like it had been struck with an axe?
Walker: More like gouges. Gouges and dents.
Rep. Jordon: How many gouges would you say?
Walker: I don't know exactly. Maybe 20 or 30.
Rep. Jordon: So somehow an axe-like object inside the computer struck the hard drive 20 to 30 times, destroying it?
Walker: Yes, I would say so.
Rep. Jordon: This doesn't sound physically possible, wouldn't you agree, Mr. Walker?
Walker: It happens.
Lois Lerner hard drive (API)