it suggested that the organizer would pay for charles grassley's wife to attend. arner forwarded that to a colleague and said -- let's make this clear. grassley never accepted the offer for his wife to attend the event. lois lerner just suggested. do you think that this will make congress get up and move because one of their own has been targeted? >> not just because one of their own has been targeted. this is something that the american people understand. when all of these e-mails, you know, disappeared from lois lerner's computer, just magically, and nobody seems to care much, this is a little bit different. this one accidentally slipped through. can you imagine? stuart: this one just popped up. i believe that further into that e-mail, lois lerner is quoted in the e-mail as saying i would not want to stand next to charles grassley. >> it was not just in a private e-mail. if that shows her personal animosity, it shows that this is politically motivated. i have worked in congress. we see these things as part of our oversight function of congress. the thing that str

lois lerner mistakenly gets an email meant for charles grassley. a group is offering to pay for grassley's wife to attend the event. bill: a congressman says he believes that's proof of krups at the highest level of the irs. >> if lois lerner is looking to target senator grassley that's an example of the irs using it power as a political weapon. >> reporter: investigators are struck by how quickly lois lerner went from getting this invitation from this organization that was intended for senator grassley and immediately pivoting to colleagues and suggesting they are inappropriately offering to fly mrs. grassley to the event and they should instantly refer this for closer examination. sic'ing the irs on nor grassley. republicans say if she was ready to go after the former chairman of the finance commiee imagine what she was whimming to do to the less powerful across the country. bill: how is senator grassley reacting to this? >> he's concerned that's a mixup got the irs turning for extra scrutiny for somebody. he says this fuels the concern about the

official at the center of the targeting controversy, suggested an audit of republican senator charles grassley in 2011. the two years' worth that the irs of e-mails says were lost in a 1211 computer crash. "wall street journal" colin lli levy joins us with more. collin, who else have we learned about the lost e-mails and the legal jeopardy for the irs? >> paul, starting with the grassley point, i think what we really learned here is that lois lerner was willing to use your position there at the irs for political retribution. senator grassley was one of the senators who was really sort of after the irs about what their practices were, including about gift taxes and later about conservative groups. so the fact that she was so eager to get him into exam, as she put it, really raises some questions about her motives. >> it was even too much, dan, for the irs itself, which said whoa, whoa, whoa, ms. lerner. >> this is all in a letter that dave camp released. the letter back from her colleagues at the irs said, lois, for one thing, senator grassley probably is not breaking the law. and we don't real

. >> lois lerner pleads the fifth and now she targeted and specifically tried to get charles grassleytrouble even though there was no evidence he accepted the invitation for his wife. is it time for a special prosecutor. >> i think it the be a lot of time and money. i would tell you this, hard drives crash a lot. mine has crashed and other people's hard drives have crashed and data out there. hard drives, 20 percent of them don't make it pass the fourth anniversary. there is no crim nalg. >> most of us have had that experience. but the oars was to keep back up taken tapes and why department they keep them immediately and are by law to archoif the information. and they did not. and a lot of us are having a hard time to believe that her e-mails and that went to someone. even lany davis suggested a special prosecutor is in order now. mark, let me turn to you. if this same thing was happening under a republican administration, you think there would be as much attention. we have had more news about chris christie and a bridge and scott walker and things that turned out not role issues and

. >> reporter: in december iowa senator, charles grassley fired off a letter to the department of homelandy. his concern, terrorism? he questioned that two eb 5 participants were involved in an inlegal procurement network . . . homeland security offered no public response, but in a report released in late december, the department was highly critical of the eb 5 operation. whatever the risk, foreign interest is only growing, with a rechord 7,000 applications waiting. prospects grew even dimmer two weeks ago after the defeat of eric cantor who supported modest immigration reform. our next guest says reform is never going to happen anyway. he says middle america doesn't like the idea of amnesty for immigrants. you say granting citizenship to illegals is a non-starter. do you believe that? >> ali, immigration reform could happen if we debated legislation point by point. like this eb 5 program is awful. it should require that the person that comes here works for the company they claim to be funding. it's a flawed program. we're trying to lump everything int called together. and the poison pill

the e-mails appear to show lois lerner had her eyes on iowa senator, charles grassley. it's after a note offering to pay for an event. a colleague pushed back and it never went anywhere. audit ks not be niche nated from requests. >>> two more top officials lost their jobs. he had been in a top role with the v.a. since 2010 and served in his new roll for a month. the general council also has resigned. >>> privacy rights advocates are saying police must have a warrant to search a suspects cell phone. it was a rare, unanimous decision. it could have greater impact if it's extended to tablets, computers and so on. >> interesting concept in terms of space, what is your private space? it's interesting. nine minutes after the hour. gm saying to stop selling 20013 and 2014 chevy cruz because of an air bag defect. another recall could follow. it stems from the air bag supplier, takata which has led to a record number of recalls. >>> time for an "early start" on your money. european money mixed. asian stocks higher. a 2.9% contraction could encourage the federal reserve to keep i

new emails of lois lerner apparently shows suggested a audit of senator charles grassley. this proves that they were targeting conservatives and comes amid growing furor of all the lost emails. steve centanni is live on capitol hill. steve? >> reporter: this latest political firestorm once again revolves around lois lerner, who is already the center of a major congressional probe into the irs and targeting congressional groups. lerner who twice took the fifth amendment and refused to give congress any information is being accused of singling out senator chuck grassley of iowa she saw invitation intended for him, that mentioned traveling expenses would be paid for the senator and his wife to attend the event. 2012 email looks like they were inappropriately to pay for his wife. perhaps we should refer it to exam. grassley of course, the long-time, very powerful senator from iowa. lerner's deputy told her it didn't seem to be anything improper in this invitation and the matter was dropped. grassley, issued a statement saying this kind of thing fuels the deep concerns many peo

temp mail started with an invitation sent to republican senator charles grassley that referenced travel expenses. lerner by accident received that e-mail. then she wrote this. looked like they were inappropriately offering to pay for his wife, perhaps we should refer to exam. chief political correspondent carl cameron live on capitol hill with the very latest. carl, what is the latest on this new evidence? >> reporter: it's very clear there's going to be a lot more expanded investigation. this is the type of thing that shows that the irs investigations such as they were or were not targeted not only american citizens and groups, nonprofit groups, social welfare groups but also u.s. senators and it's going to make a lot of noise. let's look at that graphic one more time. it's important to get the language of this. looked like they were inappropriately offering to pay for his wife. his being the senator. perhaps we should refer to exam. exam is a term of art in the irs which talks about the beginning of the process to launch an actual audit. in this particular case it was based upon an in

the senator in question, charles grassley, is demanding that the attorney general turn over the documentsthe counsel, the advice that the department of justice gave to the president in order for the president to feel like he had the right, or the administration had the right to go ahead and act in these exigent circumstances. is there anything that those documents might tell us that we don't perhaps already know what the administration's already said? >> there's a great deal they might tell us. including the dates of those documents and when the analysis occurred. it was a decision not to comply with this law. the administration can argue when the president signed the law, he never intended to be bound by it. i don't think there's any serious argument he violated the language of that law. now, that doesn't mean that you can't argue these other constitutional points. but the white house needs to be very careful. they have not played this thing very well. and they're heading into a buzz saw if they take an obstructionist position with congress. congress has an oversight duty. there's a law

now we've learned that targeted and specifically tried to get charles grassley in trouble, even thoughvidence that he had even accepted this invitation for his wife. is it time for a special prosecutor? >> you know, there's six investigations that have already begun. i think it would be a lot of time and a lot of money, i would tell you this hard driving crash a lot. in fact there's data that says hard drives, 20% don't make it past their fourth anniversary. there's not a shred of evidence of -- >> hard drives do crash, most of us have you had that experience, but by law the irs was to keep backup tapes. why didn't they keep them immediately? by law they're supposed to archive the information, and i think a lot of us are saying her hard drive during that period and those e-mails went to someone. >> i think that may be. mark, let me turn to you. if this same thing was happening under a republican administration, you think there would be as much attention, because we've had more news about chris christie and some bridge and scott walker and some things that turned out weren't even real i

now the chairman of the house ways and means committee is accusing her of targeting charles grassley. what's the alleged proof? >> erin, a series of e-mails released by republicans on the house ways and means committee suggests that in december of 2012 lois lerner asked another irs employee whether to refer for examination, another word for audit, an invitation for grassley to attend a speaking event. lerner wrote that it looked like they were inappropriately offering to pay for his wife, perhaps we should refer to examination. the official wrote back, he was not sure and suggested the invitation was not prohibited by law. congressional republicans are taking the position that lerner was attempting to get grassley audited. but it doesn't indicate whether she was talking about auditing the organization or the senator or more. >> there's confusion as to why the chief of the irs would be receiving an invitation for a senator to begin with. can't really add those pieces up yet. but what is chuck grassley saying? >> it sounds like envelopes got mixed up, but senator grassley said it was a

emerged indicating the disgraced irs official lois lerner once targeted veteran republican senator charles grassleyor an internal audit and this story continues to develop this hour. we'll have more on that this hour and first earlier this week lawmakers grilled top administration officials about the missing lois lerner e-mails which is at the center of the irs targeting scandal. no some of the most heating questioning came from south carolina congressman trey gowdy. let's take a look. >> you have already said multiple times today that there was no evidence that you found of any criminal wrongdoing. i want you to tell me what criminal statutes you've evaluated. >> i've not looked at any. >> well, then how can you possibly tell our fellow citizens that there's no criminal wrongdoing if you don't even know what statutes to look at. >> because i've seen no evidence that anyone consciously -- >> how would you know what elements of the crime existed? you don't even know what statutes are at play. i'm going ask you again. what statutes have you evaluated? >> i think you can rely on common sense that noth

senator charles grassley.mer doppler radar indicated involved lois lerner taking the fifth and being held in contempt of congress. obviously special prosecutors should be appointed but attorney general eric holder will not do that at least not yet. joining us from nashville, tennessee, former federal prosecutor alex little and in the studio former attorney general michael mukasey. let's start attorney general holder your assessment? >> well, my assessment is that in this instance a whole lot more ought to be donathan is being done. i think that there ought to be a special prosecutor. i think that putting this case in the hands of a prosecutor who gave a maximum deposition to the president's re-election campaign in 12bg 12. >> that's the head of the irs. >> doesn't really inspire confidence. >> holder why went he do. it the special prosecutor no, ties to any political group should be appointed. holder won't do it. he didn't do it on fast and furious. he didn't appoint a special prosecutor there why won't he do

lois lerner mistakenly received an invitation meant for senator charles grassley.he wife apparently offered to pay for his wife to attend an event. lerner suggested to a colleague the case be referred for examination, but her colleague shut the idea down. now lawmakers investigating the case, well, they want to know more. >> the fact is, we've got to dig down and get to the bottom of this whole scandal, and it's been like pulling teeth with the administration. and we are starting to get more documents, and we're going to keep the pressure on. >> and now for the first time house oversight committee chairman darrell issa is calling for a special prosecutor to investigate. >> this case calls for a true special, independent prosecutor who has the ability to issue warrants, to seize materials, to safeguard documents and other information before it goes away and get to the truth. >> i love it when you bring in a special prosecutor. [laughter] right? one prosecutor to another. harris, i think i remember you saying that they should do this. >> yeah. you know what? you need

wednesday, it was reported that lois lerner flagged a speaking invitation for republican senator charles grassley for examination. senator grassley, of course, is the highest ranking republican on the senate judiciary committee who has been a strong and powerful voice for accountability at the department of justice. it's curious that she would be so eager to subject senator grassley for extra scrutiny based on a speaking invitation. madam president, right now today, the white house is in control of democrats. there will come a time when democrats no longer control the white house and the administration. i would ask every democratic member of this body how comfortable are you with the precedent that the i.r.s. can single out democratic senators who might disagree with the president's political position. the targeting of chuck grassley, the singling out of chuck grassley ought to trouble every member of this body. and on tuesday, it was reported that the i.r.s. agreed to pay $50,000 in damages to the national organization of marriage because the i.r.s. admittedly unlawfully released confidential in

lois lerner mistakenly gets an email meant for charles grassley.

. >> next, senator charles grassley and senate minority leader mitch mcconnell. this is 15 minutes. >> i ask permission to speak for 10 or 11 minutes in morning business. >> without objection. >> i come to the floor today to praise the supreme court's decision to strike down president obama's illegal recess appointments. article 2, section 2 of the constitution provides for only two ways in which the president may appoint certain officers. first, it provides that the president nominates and by and with the advice and consent of the senate appoints various officers. second, it permits the president to make temporary appointments when a vacancy in one of those offices happens if the senate is in recess. on january 4 2012, the president made four appointments. they were purportedly based on the recess appointments clause. he took this action even though they were not made in the words of the constitution during the recess of the senate. these appointments were blatantly unconstitutional. they were not made with the advice and consent of the senate and they were not

charles: a huge loss for america. when they do show up, there is a lot of display. absolutely amazing. chuck grassleyrner's fault at one point. not sure how this happened. there is an organizer of an event. "perhaps we should refer it to them." grassley never accepted the offer. lois that he was guilty and suggested him for audit. >> in washington, d.c., auditing and harassing tea party groups around the country, that is one thing. going after a sitting senator, that is stupid. it is also really criminal. there is no reason to audit. we do know that she behaved that way at other times. the irs passed on this. audited every year between when they lost in 60 and one in 68. every single year. the irs has been used by politicians to go after people. that really needs to stop. charles: willing to do this to a senator. is there some sort of implication that she has been given the green light. someone has my back and i can do anything i want. >> the administration, obama, the justice department, they have had her back. they have defended everything she has done. charles: you say it was stupid, but there are