Second federal judge orders IRS to provide information about lost emails in tea party probe

A second federal judge is ordering the IRS to provide information about lost emails by a central figure in the agency's tea party controversy.

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said Friday he wants to know whatever became of Lois Lerner's computer hard drive. IRS officials say Lerner's computer crashed in 2011, destroying an untold number of emails.

At the time, Lerner headed the IRS division that processes applications for tax-exempt status.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen has told Congress that Lerner's hard drive was recycled and presumably destroyed. If that's the case, Walton said he wants a sworn affidavit saying so.

Walton also wants information about the IRS inspector general's investigation into lost emails.

Walton held a hearing Friday in a lawsuit by a conservative group against the IRS.