Ex-IRS Official Lois Lerner: UK 'Can’t Afford Their Welfare State Either'

House Ways and Means released a fresh batch of emails from former IRS official Lois Lerner, and this time they’re truly eye-opening.

They go beyond the news that Lerner called conservatives “---holes” and “crazies” who “will take us down.”

An IRS official whose name is redacted and who responded to the former head of the IRS tax-exempt division concurred with Lerner’s feelings. And Lerner herself discussed how the U.K. “can’t afford to keep up their welfare state either” in a Nov. 9 email while on a trip to Great Britain.

Rep. Dave Camp, (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, released the emails Wednesday as part of his committee's investigation into the IRS’s improper scrutiny of Tea Party and conservative groups applying for nonprofit status. Camp sent the emails to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to bolster the case for a special prosecutor to probe the IRS controversy, noting the emails show an “animus” against these groups. The FBI and the Justice Department are investigating the IRS. Lerner has repeatedly refused to respond to Congress’s questions and has invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Last June, IRS officials informed Congress Lerner’s emails from 2009 through 2011 were lost due to a computer crash.

In the latest batch of emails, Lerner appears to be using her Blackberry to email an IRS official while she was on vacation in Great Britain in November 2012. Camp’s office says Lerner used her government account to send the emails.

Lerner emailed the anonymous IRS official on Nov.9 to discuss her trip to Great Britain:

“Has [sic] work this morning. Got to talk to their internal 'spooks.' I was going to take the train to windsor Castle, but stuff closes early in winter so it wasn't going to work. Instead, went Hempstead --an Edwardian English village, full of beautiful, huge houses--which have been ruined by letting the hoi paloi live there! These people have ruined everything with their equality push!”

“Tonight going to a movie and dinner with [redacted] and her partner. Tomorrow at 8am, I get on a tour bus to go to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Oxford(or is it CAmbridge?). Figured I may never get the chance otherwise and have Always wanted to see Stonehenge. Then, hopefully a nice dinner and bed to be ready for the trip home. Am being good--no shopping. Everything is super expensive even if the dollar and pound were equal. See you soon Lois G. Lerner”

Lerner then sent another email: “Overheard some ladies talking about American today. According to them we've bankrupted ourselves and at through. We'll never be able to pay off our debt and are going down the tubes. They don't seem to see that they can't afford to keep up their welfare state either. Strange.”

IRS official then replied: “Well, you should hear the whacko wing of the GOP. The US is through; too many foreigners sucking the teat; time to  hunker down, buy ammo and food, and prepare for the end. The right wing radio shows are scary to listen to.”

Lerner replied: “Great. Maybe we are through if there are that many ---holes.”

The anonymous IRS official replied: “I'm talking about the hosts of the shows. The callers are rabid,” to which Lerner replied: “So we don't need to worry about alien teRrorists. It's our own crazies that will take us down.”