Congressman J. Randy Forbes (VA-04) issued the following statement in response to the IRS’ inability to locate former IRS official Lois Lerner's e-mails from January 2009 to April 2011:

“The American people are tired of scandals and they are tired of excuses.I am immediately calling for the appointment of an independent special counsel who can employ the use of independent computer forensics investigators with full access to all information pertinent to the investigation. The only way to begin restoring trust in the wake of abuses at the Internal Revenue Service is to find the truth -- and the process to do that must be swift, far-reaching, and aggressive.”

Lerner served as head of the IRS office for tax exemption applications, which is now under scrutiny for using government influence to target conservative groups. IRS Commissioner, John Koskinen, will be questioned by the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday, June 20^th and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Monday, June 23^rd,in regards to the missing emails.