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2013-05-22 Government
Top IRS official to Plead Fifth to congress - Breitbart
Tuesday afternoon a bombshell was dropped into the already explosive IRS scandal when it was reported that Lois Lerner, a top IRS official in the non-profit division that paralyzed Tea Party groups with ongoing harassment, would invoke the Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer questions during Congressional testimony schedule before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.
And so it begins.
At least the Obama administration finally found a Constitutional amendment they like...
The LA Times reports that Lerner will refuse to answer any questions about what she knows about the targeting of conservative groups. She will also refuse to explain why she is refusing to answer questions.
That's all in addition to being "bad at maths".
Lerner has retained defense attorney William W. Taylor 3rd, who sent a letter to Darrell Issa, the Chairman of the House Oversight Committee. In the letter Taylor said, "She has not committed any crime or made any misrepresentation but under the circumstances she has no choice but to take this course."
The truth is certainly a "choice".
Taylor is hoping Issa will excuse his client from having to testify in order to save her the embarrassment of having to invoke the Fifth in public. Per The L.A. Times, the committee hasn't yet answered her request one way or the other.
"SAVE HER THE FOK'N EMBARRASSMENT"... *#^&#&*&#@!!!!
ADDED: National Journal reports that Issa "has issued a subpoena to Lerner anyway."
Since the IRS scandal broke wide open ten days ago, Lerner has been at the center of the controversy. She is not only the head of the division that oversaw the Kafka-esque harassment of President Obama's political foes; she has also been caught on numerous occasions making misleading statements.
"Making misleading statements"...generally referred to as obfuscation and LYING !
Lerner was also part of the fumbled attempt to control how the scandal was made public with a planted question at an American Bar Association meeting. Lerner followed that debacle with a phone call with journalists in which she attempted to downplay the scandal and laughed off the fact she didn't understand math.
"Funbled attempt to control" = OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE !
Lerner's testimony had been widely anticipated. What she knows is considered key to finding out the answer to the one question we still don't know the answer to: Who okayed this partisan harassment and who participated in it?
Posted by Besoeker 2013-05-22 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11134 views ]  Top

#1 She's the one running the IRS role in Obamacare now, right?
Posted by Glenmore 2013-05-22 07:22||   2013-05-22 07:22|| Front Page Top

#2 Are you now or ever have been a member of the Tea Party? The new era of McCarthyism. It's OK, because the Left is doing it. /sarc off
Posted by Procopius2k 2013-05-22 07:43||   2013-05-22 07:43|| Front Page Top

#3 "Lerner will refuse to answer any questions about what she knows about the targeting of conservative groups. She will also refuse to explain why she is refusing to answer questions."

No explanation needed, Lois: you've been ordered to clam up to keep this scandal from going all the way back up the food chain to where it began-- the Oval Office.

I hope to hell Issa doesn't excuse this corrupt political hack from testifying...
Posted by Dave D. 2013-05-22 08:04||   2013-05-22 08:04|| Front Page Top

#4 Anyone found in Fort Marcy Park yet ?
Posted by Besoeker 2013-05-22 08:45||   2013-05-22 08:45|| Front Page Top

#5 Plead the Fifth: From a very early age, we are taught to break apart problems, to fragment the world. This apparently makes complex tasks and subjects more manageable, but we pay a hidden, enormous price. We can no longer see the consequences of our actions; we lose our intrinsic sense of connection to a larger whole… Thus, after a while we give up trying to see the whole altogether.

—Peter Senge


Might be a smart move on her part to plead to the Fifth.


Posted by The 5th Dimension 2013-05-22 09:41||   2013-05-22 09:41|| Front Page Top

#6 I hope to hell Issa doesn't excuse this corrupt political hack from testifying...
Posted by Dave D.

He's already said she'd have to do it in person at the hearings. For the news report video, if nothing else. Terrible optics for Teh Won's regime
Posted by Frank G 2013-05-22 09:50||   2013-05-22 09:50|| Front Page Top

#7 "Terrible optics for Teh Won's regime"

I wanna see some perp walks-- with the perps in handcuffs.
Posted by Dave D. 2013-05-22 10:16||   2013-05-22 10:16|| Front Page Top

#8 And another one bites the dust under the bus!

I'm sure Obama appreciates her sacrifice and will (or already has) appoint her to some greater position - like overseeing the IRS Obamacare division.

Why do I get the feeling that all this is coming out now to distract from Benghazi. This will probably never be linked to the Administration - just some 'rogue employees'. Lois will be tossed under the bus and will eventually be allowed to get back on via the backdoor in some other role. Sure the administration will take some damage but not enough as Benghazi would cause and in three years the MSM will spin it to be the Republican's fault - they are already working on it.

While Benghazi (which this pushed off the front pages) has a direct link to the WH and Hillary's Office.
Posted by CrazyFool 2013-05-22 10:44||   2013-05-22 10:44|| Front Page Top

#9 This should make it easier to charge her with perjury for her previous prevarication.

Miller has already admitted that this was a partisan ploy. With the DHS sending armed gaurds to monitor Tea Party protests now how long before the uniforms change to black and brown?
Posted by AlanC 2013-05-22 11:57||   2013-05-22 11:57|| Front Page Top

#10 > I wanna see some perp walks


Using Jon Corzine as a guide, you're not going to get them.
Posted by Bright Pebbles 2013-05-22 14:40||   2013-05-22 14:40|| Front Page Top

#11 It was nice but all too short to watch her sit there with contempt at having to appear, and respond so arrogantly that she wouldn't answer any questions today...
She just put a nice face on this scandal and those self important career civil serpents...
Posted by Capsu78 2013-05-22 15:04||   2013-05-22 15:04|| Front Page Top

#12 She still gets paid by tax payers so at this point she is winning and tax payer is losing.
Posted by Airandee 2013-05-22 16:50||   2013-05-22 16:50|| Front Page Top

#13 IRS' Lois Lerner Re-Subpoenaed After Accidentally Waiving Her Right To Plead The Fifth
Posted by tipper 2013-05-22 21:13||   2013-05-22 21:13|| Front Page Top

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