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In a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman [[Bob Goodlatte]], Republican of Virginia, announcing the case closure, Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs Peter J. Kadzik wrote that while "our investigation uncovered substantial evidence of mismanagement, poor judgment, and institutional inertia...Not a single IRS employee reported any allegation, concern or suspicion that the handling of tax-exempt applications—or any other IRS function—was motivated by political bias, discriminatory intent, or corruption."<ref name="Phelps"/> Kadzik wrote "We found no evidence that any IRS official acted based on political, discriminatory, corrupt, or other inappropriate motives that would support a criminal prosecution."<ref>Leada Gore. [http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/10/lois_lerner_internal_revenue_s.html "Lois Lerner, Internal Revenue Service cleared by Justice Department, no charges will be filed"], [[AL.com]] (October 23, 2015).</ref> Kadzik stated that the investigation specifically absolved Lerner of criminal liability, and determined that Lerner was in fact the first official to recognize a problem and try and correct it.<ref name="Phelps"/><ref>Letter dated October 23, 2015, from Peter J. Kadzik, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legislative Affairs, U.S. Department of Justice, to The Honorable Bob Goodlatte, Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives, and The Honorable John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives.</ref>
Reactions to the investigation's conclusions were split along [[Partisan (political)|partisan]] lines. Representative [[Darrell Issa]], Republican of California, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said that decision not to prosecute ignored "volumes of evidence in the public record and efforts to obstruct legitimate inquires", and that "giving Lois Lerner a free pass only reinforces the idea that government officials are above the law and that there is no consequence for wrongdoing."<ref name="HessCleared"/> Representative [[Elijah E. Cummings]], Democrat of Maryland, the [[ranking member]] of the Oversight Committee, said that "Over the past five years, Republicans in the House of Representatives have squandered literally tens of millions of dollars going down all kinds of investigative rabbit holes—IRS, Planned Parenthood, Benghazi—with absolutely no evidence of illegal activity. I believe the American people have higher expectations for their elected officials, and they want Congress to start doing its job and focusing on issues that matter instead of these ridiculous, partisan, taxpayer-funded attacks."<ref name="HessCleared"/> House Judiciary Committee Chairman Goodlatte, the recipient of the DOJ letter, said that DOJ's decision was "disturbing. The American people should be concerned that this kind of politicization continues to go unchecked by this administration and a Justice Department charged with pursuing wrongdoing",<ref name="Phelps"/> and 19 members of the [[House Oversight and Government Reform Committee]] led by the
==Personal life==
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