A senior Justice Department official told a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on Thursday that several agencies including the FBI are investigating partisan political activity inside the IRS, and that former official Lois Lerner's disappearing emails are on the menu. A criminal investigation, Deputy Attorney General James Cole testified, 'is being conducted by career attorneys and agents of the Department’s Criminal and Civil Rights Divisions, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. Cole declined to provide lawmakers with details about what the DOJ has uncovered. 'I can, however, tell you,' he added, 'that the investigation includes investigating the circumstances of the lost emails from Ms.Lerner’s computer.'
@highlight
Deputy attorney general testifies that the DOJ is looking into the 2011 disappearance of years of Lerner's emails following a hard drive crash
@highlight
Republicans believe the emails would show the former IRS official's leading role in a scheme to target conservative nonprofit groups
@highlight
A House Oversight subcommittee is hearing from Deputy AG James Cole on Thursday morning
That seems unlikely, as @placeholder's appearance at Thursday's hearing appears calculated in part to quell conservatives' fears about the DOJ's impartiality.