Posted on 05/22/2013 6:14:37 AM PDT by safetysign
The dam protecting the IRS scandal began to crack today when Lois Lerner, the IRS official who announced, and apologized for, the improper singling out of conservative-leaning organizations by IRS employees under her command, announced through her criminal defense lawyer that she will not testify as scheduled tomorrow before the House Oversight Committee. Rather, she will assert her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
This marks a milestone in the IRS investigation. It can now be taken as more or less established that crimes were committed by Obama administration employees. Lerner’s lawyer tried to minimize the significance of her invoking the privilege against self-incrimination by saying that since law enforcement authorities have announced they are pursuing a criminal investigation, she had no choice. This is silly: people testify before Senate committees and grand juries when there is a criminal investigation going on, all the time. The ones who plead the Fifth are those who cannot answer questions honestly without confessing to serious crimes.
More information has come out about Ms. Lerner, too. It turns out that in her prior position at the Federal Elections Commission, Lerner was obsessed with religious organizations and their religious practices, some of which she apparently wanted to suppress. Mark Hemingway has the scoop:
prior to joining the IRS, Lerner’s tenure as head of the Enforcement Office at the Federal Election Commission (FEC) was marked by what appears to be politically motivated harassment of conservative groups.
This excerpt is from a deposition taken by an FEC lawyer, acting under the direction of Lois Lerner, of Oliver North. This was in an FEC case, and apparently Lerner and her minions were burning to find out whether Pat Robertson had prayed for Oliver North:
Q: (reading from a letter from Oliver North to Pat Robertson) “‘Betsy and I thank you for your kind regards and prayers.’ The next paragraph is, ‘Please give our love to Dede and I hope to see you in the near future.’ Who is Dede?”
A: “That is Mrs. Robertson.”
Q: “What did you mean in paragraph 2, about thanking -you and your wife thanking Pat Robertson for kind regards?”
A: “Last time I checked in America, prayers were still legal. I am sure that Pat had said he was praying for my family and me in some correspondence or phone call.”
Q: “Would that be something that Pat Robertson was doing for you?”
A: “I hope a lot of people were praying for me, Holly.”
Q: “But you knew that Pat Robertson was?”
A: “Well, apparently at that time I was reflecting something that Pat had either, as I said, had told me or conveyed to me in some fashion, and it is my habit to thank people for things like that.”
Q: “During the time that you knew Pat Robertson, was it your impression that he had – he was praying for you?”
O: “I object. There is no allegation that praying creates a violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act and there is no such allegation in the complaint. This is completely irrelevant and intrusive on the religious beliefs of this witness.”
O: “It is a very strange line of questioning. You have got to be kidding, really. What are you thinking of, to ask questions like that? I mean, really. I have been to some strange depositions, but I don’t think I have ever had anybody inquire into somebody’s prayers. I think that is really just outrageous. And if you want to ask some questions regarding political activities, please do and then we can get over this very quickly. But if you want to ask abou somebody’s religious activities, that is outrageous.”
Q: “I am allowed to make-’’
O: “We are allowed not to answer and if you think the Commission is going to permit you to go forward with a question about somebody’s prayers, I just don’t believe that. I just don’t for a moment believe that. I find that the most outrageous line of questioning. I am going to instruct my witness not to answer.”
Q: “On what grounds?”
O: “We are not going to let you inquire about people’s religious beliefs or activities, period. If you want to ask about someone’s prayers-Jeez, I don’t know what we are thinking of. But the answer is, no, people are not going to respond to questions about people’s prayers, no.”
Q: “Will you take that, at the first break, take it up- we will do whatever we have to do.”
O: “You do whatever you think you have to do to get them to answer questions about what people are praying about.”
Q: “I did not ask Mr. North what people were praying about I am allowed to inquire about the relationship between-’’
O: “Absolutely, but you have asked the question repeatedly. If you move on to a question other than about prayer, be my guest.
These inquiries into the contents of “suspects’” prayers foreshadowed the improper inquiries that others, acting under her direction, would later direct to Tea Party groups.
The question now is, how many of Lerner’s colleagues will follow her lead and decline to answer questions? I suspect there may be several. Reliance on the FIfth Amendment tends to be contagious. The IRS investigation will take a new turn before long, but in the meantime, all we can do is sit back and enjoy the proceeding.
Top IRS Official to Plead Fifth
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
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.
Read more: http://patriotupdate.com/2013/05/top-irs-official-to-plead-fifth/#ixzz2U1jXrvpm
Doesn't she still have to show up and formally state she is taking the fifth? Hold her in contempt!
The media should be dogging Obama and Carney with questions on this.
This ALONE justifies extensive and lengthy investigations on these, starting with her phone records.
Is she a civil servant?
Depending on how deep Ms. Lerner is in this scandal, and how much she values her freedom, she may begin singing after Team O throws her under the bus. No doubt she’s in this up to her neck.
Lois Lerner, like so many others in the Obama Regime, is both DODGY & DIRTY. Just another cog in the ongoing criminal enterprise known as the Obama administration.
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EXHIBIT ONE Although the IRS targeted and harrassed conservative groups, it appears that no one has been formally reprimanded and a spokesperson for the powerful federal union representing IRS workers said it hasn’t been called in as yet. Most IRS employees involved in the targeting program are covered by protections for federal workers that could drag out the termination process.
FREEPER DIOGENESIS SUGGESTS Local grand juries should begin indicting Congresspeople and Senators for FAILING TO UPHOLD THE LAW AGAINST FELONIES.A few felony convictions and imprisonment oughta wake up the treasonous Congress (that supports al Qaeda and Communism).
KEEP IN MIND---those elected to office are supposed to adhere to a higher standard of law than we peons....but have never been held to account.....til now
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EXHIBIT TWO Dump impeachment----in favor of our taking over Congress. When conservatives are running things---we screw up his agenda---and wont need to waste our time and resources impeaching this guy.
AS FREEPER GRAMPADAVE INSIGHTFULLY POSTED: Take over both the house and $inate and keep Obozo in office as a living reason for sane Americans to get rid of Rats in Congress and across the country. Tell the rats we want to keep Herr Obozo in office while we remove his fellow rats. If they/the rats want him out of office because he is killing their party, they can do it.
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EXHIBIT THREE FReeper showme_the_Glory reminds us of the practice of "pencil whipping."
DEFINITION To complete a form, record, or document without having performed the implied work or without supporting data or evidence. Pencil whipping an official document incurs jailtime.
TEA PARTIERS NOTE WELL Scrutinize all IRS documents. If the IRS falsified official documents, that usually involves about 4-5 felonies...... and could include forgery.
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I urge Tea Party victims of the IRS to drop the logic----they need to factor in that they are dealing with cunning con artists. The Chi/mobsters in the WH have their con game down pat. These practiced WH con artists oozed out of the muck and mire of Chicago criminal politics and known every trick in the book.
It is time that the people took back the IRS from corrupt politicians and government lawyers. We need total govt reform and that means many pols, and crooks spend time in cages.
Can Congress grant her immunity and force her testimony? They did this to Ollie North during the Iran Contra Hearings.
Bolding emphasis is mine .... make the 'rats eat their own. Best Idea I've seen on the issue. Lib heads will explode if you can find a Repub with the balls to actually say this (I'm not holding my breath waiting for it).
Hopefully Issa will make her answer every single question all day long, especially if its “I take the 5th”.
When that’s happened before it was very dramatic, from a political sense, to make such witness go through this grinder.
Frog march out of the IRS building.
If Issa makes her sit there and take the 5th over and over, everyone but FOX will be running from showing it.
NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE
www.nationalreview.com
May 21, 2013 5:00 PM
Oversight from Washington, All Along
IRS specialists in Washington were closely involved in the Cincinnati office’s scandalous behavior.
By Eliana Johnson
From the outset, Internal Revenue Service lawyers based in Washington, D.C., provided important guidance on the handling of tea-party groups’ applications for tax-exempt status, according to both IRS sources and the inspector general’s report released in mid May.
Officials in the Technical Unit of the IRS’s Rulings and Agreements office played an integral role in determining how the targeted applications were treated, provided general guidelines to Cincinnati case workers, briefed other agency employees on the status of the special cases, and reviewed all those intrusive requests demanding “more information†from tea-party groups. At times, the Technical Unit lawyers seemed to exercise tight control over these applications, creating both a backlog in application processing and frustration among Cincinnati agents waiting for direction.
http://www.nationalreview.com/node/348983/print
So in your refusal to answer, can I assume that there was criminal wrongdoing on the part of the IRS as a whole and of individual agents in particular?
I refuse to answer because it may incriminate me.
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