Posted on 05/21/2013 12:40:53 PM PDT by 11th Commandment
Edited on 05/21/2013 12:48:43 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
WASHINGTON – A top IRS official in the division that reviews nonprofit groups will invoke the Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer questions before a House committee investigating the agency’s improper screening of conservative nonprofit groups.
Lois Lerner, the head of the exempt organizations division of the IRS, won’t answer questions about what she knew about the improper screening – or why she didn’t reveal it to Congress, according to a letter from her defense lawyer, William W. Taylor 3rd.
Lerner was scheduled to appear before the House Oversight committee Wednesday.
DOCUMENT: The Inspector General’s report on the IRS
“She has not committed any crime or made any misrepresentation but under the circumstances she has no choice but to take this course,” said a letter by Taylor to committee Chairman Darrell E. Issa, R-Calif. The letter, sent Monday, was obtained Tuesday by the Los Angeles Times.
What is CNN and MSNBC saying about this? I am cube bound.
And the Walls of Justice slowly close in on Obama. Why don’t they just go down the line and question the entire IRS chain of command right to Cincinnati? Someone will eventually talk and then we work our way back up the line right to the oval office. Bottom line: This is Axelrod and Obama.
I suspect he’s writing his questions as I’m trying!
:)
Issa better not back off. Bhoner will feverishly work to derail this (he is now with his refusal to exercise his constitutional powers) and conservatives better damn well be paying attention to what the powers in the GOP are doing here.
Wow, what a hearing we’re going to thoroughly enjoy!!!
I'm not re-writing the Constitution. I'm simply explaining the practical function of invoking the 5th.
No court in the nation can compel you to testify against yourself. That's the right the 5th Amendment guarantees to all Americans. You also can't be convicted of any crime by refusing to testify against yourself. That's the effect rendered by that right.
However - in practical terms, it's well understood that invoking the 5th indicates that a person is willfully withholding something that would tend to incriminate them.
The fact that all Americans have the right to do so is not in question.
Just try taking the fifth when filling out your 1040
In the Obama administration this is grounds for a promotion.
Rush should run and rerun her “taking the 5th” over and over...
They are looking for a scape goat. Some poor slob is sitting in jail over a Youtube video to protect the president and Clinton. Even if she is perfectly innocent of a crime, in this atmosphere I would be having my attorney obtain immunity before I testified.
If it smells like a crime, then he should go to jail.
Not true. First, in most states and in federal court a witness can invoke the 5th in a civil proceeding. However, when a witness invokes the 5th in a civil proceeding, the jury or judge may draw negative inferences from the witness' silence and presume that the witness is guilty.
Second, a witness may invoke the 5th when testifying before a congressional committee and the committee may grant the witness immunity with the consent of 2/3rd of the committee membership and approval of the federal district court.
I believe Boehner has been stonewalling Issa on several investigations.
Don’t Talk to Police
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wXkI4t7nuc
This is significant because the optics are simply awful for the administration. It makes lthem appear as guilty as in fact they are!
Yup. And until many on the right wake up to that fact he will continue protecting Obama by doing so. I’d think that behavior should upset conservatives.
Thank you! That's the point that too many seem to be missing here.
I want to see Wilkins subpoenaed, with his dual roles with the IRS and Treasury ... and his pro bono work for Obama/Jeremiah Wright.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/counselorgchart.pdf
Start with her name. If she has any fear of the future she’d best not answer even that one.
It should infuriate conservatives.
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