20 – June – 2014 – State of the Union

Get your daily scoop of what State of the Union is watching today, June 20, 2014

1. IRS hearings. A congressional hearing on missing subpoenaed e-mails of a former IRS official grew heated after the IRS commissioner said he didn't feel an apology from the agency was warranted. The IRS says the emails of ex-IRS official Lois Lerner are permanently lost because a hard drive was destroyed. Rep. Paul Ryan (R) Wisconsin, lashed out at IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. "This is unbelievable. The apology that ought to be given is to the American taxpayer not to a government agency that is abusing its power. "I am sitting here listening to this testimony. I just – I don't believe it. That is your problem. Nobody believes you," Ryan said. "I don't think an apology is owed," said Koskinen "We haven't lost an email since the start of this investigation." The committee is investigating whether the IRS targeted conservative groups. FULL POST

June 20th, 2014

12:10 PM ET

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Clinton calls for release of Syrian activist

By CNN's Susan Garraty

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is demanding the release of kidnapped Syrian lawyer and human rights activist Razan Zaitouneh. Zaitouneh, her husband and two other human rights activists were abducted from offices in Douma, Syria in December, 2013. No group is taking responsibility for the kidnapping. The day before her disappearance, Zaitouneh published a highly critical assesment of the now infamous ISIS militants

“We will not forget her. We will not forget the work she did, we will not forget the abuses she exposed, or the hope she cherished, the hope for a more peaceful and eventually democratic Syria,” Clinton said while giving the Vital Voices Global Trailblazer Award to Rana Zaitouneh, who accepted the recognition on behalf of her sister at a ceremony at the Kennedy Center in Washington. FULL POST