Posted on 04/03/2014 11:32:19 AM PDT by jazusamo
House Republicans said Thursday that they’ll vote in committee next week to hold Lois G. Lerner in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify about her role in the IRS’s tea party targeting scandal.
Rep. Darrell Issa, the House’s top investigator, said that as a senior official at the center of the agency’s targeting, Ms. Lerner must either talk or face penalties.
“Ms. Lerner’s involvement in wrongdoing and refusal to meet her legal obligations has left the Committee with no alternative but to consider a contempt finding,” he said.
Mr. Issa has scheduled a Thursday vote in the House Oversight Committee on a contempt resolution, which if it is approved would then be sent to the full House floor.
Whether Ms. Lerner could be held in contempt has been the subject of heated legal debate.
Some legal scholars argue Mr. Issa botched a March 4 hearing with Ms. Lerner by not telling her she faced consequences if she continued to assert her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.
The oversight committee has ruled that Ms. Lerner waived that right because she delivered a statement declaring her innocence before refusing to answer further questions.
But the House’s chief lawyer has written a memo saying Ms. Lerner and her lawyer were aware of the consequences of refusing to testify.
Rep. Darrell Issa, the House’s top investigator, said that as a senior official at the center of the agency’s targeting, Ms. Lerner must either talk or face penalties.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
You know, I hate the IRS, but what is worse is Congress forcing someone to testify and then criminalizing that person for not incriminating themselves. Today, Lois Lerner, tomorrow, you or I. The GOP & Congress need to find other evidence or grant Lerner immunity. Otherwise they’re pulling a populist stunt that is utterly unconstitutional and dangerous.
This vote is only in a committee? Does anyone know who the committee members are? We should contact them to suggest how they should vote.
Sorry, but yer nuts!!!
It will be fun to watch the Communist Black Congressman Cummings as his head explodes.
Gee, what a clear-cut, well reasoned argument.
If Lois Lerner told the truth, it is possible she might end up in Fort Marcy Park.
The problem with holding a member of one of the other branches of government in contempt is there is no enforcement authority. As I understand it, the worst they can do is send the sergeant-at-arms to arrest the person, and that only for something like 24 hours. Without a special prosecutor there is no legal liability.
I could be all wet on this, but I think I’m right.
I’ll wager this goes nowhere. Color me skeptical.
She will never talk.She’s a fellow traveler with a 90,000 dollar pension.
T’was way better than your’s!!!
If you are going to invoke your 5th amendment rights you can’t first make a speech about being innocent.
Throw the *itch in prison!
I’ll have to paraphrase, maybe someone has the quote, she said there was no wrong doing, then later took the 5th. If there was no wrong doing she wouldn’t need to take the 5th so in essence she perjured herself.
The point is: If you're going to claim the Fifth, you don't get to make a statement proclaiming your innocence first. You can't testify in your favor...then refuse to testify on the grounds that it may tend to be incriminating.
Take the Fifth...and shut up.
BS, why does this moron need immunity if she has not done anything wrong. She brought this all on herself with her arrogance by telling congress screw you I’ll only talk as long as the things I did, and the people who suffered because of it, is not held against me and I can go smiling on my merry way scott free.
If it were up to me she would be in a federal prison in an orange jumpsuit until she decided to answer question about her role, and others, in screwing American tax payers.
Ignorance of the law is no excuse.
Rep. Elijah Cummings (MD-7)
Ranking Member
all the enforcement agencies of the Federal govt are under
the administration. Congress has no cops, do they?
Amen! Elijah will be apoplectic. :-)
They can have the sergeant-at-arms arrest and detain her until the end of this Congress but it’s not going to happen.
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