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(CNN) -- The embattled head of the Internal Revenue Service blames faulty technology for what he called serious problems under investigation by Congress, the Justice Department and the Treasury inspector general.
John Koskinen told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Thursday that he apologized to anyone who had their application for tax-exempt status held up by IRS targeting of political labels.
"The improper criteria used to highlight organizations for investigation just by their name was a mistake," Koskinen said. "I apologize to anybody who ever had their applications held up needlessly. Everybody needs to be confident that the IRS is going to treat them fairly no matter who they are. Republicans, Democrats, whatever organization they belong to. So it's a serious matter."
However, he maintained that evidence uncovered so far by six investigations found no involvement by the White House, as alleged by some Republicans.
In particular, GOP critics contend a hard drive crash that wiped out e-mails of the woman at the center of the controversy -- former IRS official Lois Lerner -- looked like a cover-up.
"It is suspicious. When we uncovered it, we pursued evidence," Koskinen said, adding that the agency also looked at other hard-drive failures in recent years. "I think we need to pull all this together, see what we know and proceed."
At the same time, he noted technology problems occurred regularly, with 2,000 hard drives failing so far this year at the agency, which has about 90,000 employees.
John Koskinen told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Thursday that he apologized to anyone who had their application for tax-exempt status held up by IRS targeting of political labels.
"The improper criteria used to highlight organizations for investigation just by their name was a mistake," Koskinen said. "I apologize to anybody who ever had their applications held up needlessly. Everybody needs to be confident that the IRS is going to treat them fairly no matter who they are. Republicans, Democrats, whatever organization they belong to. So it's a serious matter."
However, he maintained that evidence uncovered so far by six investigations found no involvement by the White House, as alleged by some Republicans.
In particular, GOP critics contend a hard drive crash that wiped out e-mails of the woman at the center of the controversy -- former IRS official Lois Lerner -- looked like a cover-up.
"It is suspicious. When we uncovered it, we pursued evidence," Koskinen said, adding that the agency also looked at other hard-drive failures in recent years. "I think we need to pull all this together, see what we know and proceed."
At the same time, he noted technology problems occurred regularly, with 2,000 hard drives failing so far this year at the agency, which has about 90,000 employees.
