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Top IRS official will invoke Fifth Amendment
LA TIMES ^ | May 21, 2013 | By Richard Simon and Joseph Tanfani

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.

Excerpt



TOPICS: Breaking News; Crime/Corruption; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: irs; loislerner; loislernerirsscandal; official; pleadfifthirsscandal; pleadthefifth; teaparty
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To: 11th Commandment

Impeachment File on Benghazi Coward B. Hussein Obama, aka Barry Soetoro, a legal citizen of the sovereign Nation of Indonesia.


401 posted on 05/21/2013 7:24:21 PM PDT by Graewoulf (Traitor John Roberts' Commune-Style Obama'care' violates U.S. Constitution AND Anti-Trust Law.)
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To: cornfedcowboy
A special prosecutor would put an end to congressional witnesses and testimony. Best for Congress to hold off as long as possible.

Do you remember the Watergate hearings and the special prosecutor? Do you think Holder will play the role of Bork or Richardson? Do you think the Senate would go along with a special prosecutor or independent counsel.

You can still have Congressional hearings with a special prosecutor.

402 posted on 05/21/2013 7:48:42 PM PDT by kabar
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To: Marcella

Things being what they are today. If taken in for questioning, just invoke your right to remain silent. The best thing to do is to do under oath is take the 5th. Anything else they wind up making your life miserable, and try to convict you of perjury.

Lots of people live to regret opening their mouth.


403 posted on 05/21/2013 7:54:36 PM PDT by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Let Freedom Ring.)
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To: kabar

Don’t remember Watergate. Just the “Nixon Now” fishing hat my dad had in the basement. Thanks for the input.
Question: Is there a difference between a special prosecutor and an independent counsel?


404 posted on 05/21/2013 7:56:06 PM PDT by cornfedcowboy (Trust in God, but empty the clip.)
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To: St_Thomas_Aquinas
So what is Mark Levin talking about, when he says that Boehner is the only thing standing in the way of a special prosecutor?

I am sorry but I can't speak for Mr. Levin. Possibly he was talking about a "Select Committee" which could be set up for the specific purpose of conducting the investigations but it would still be a legislative body and would have to defer to the Justice Department for any criminal prosecution. I may be in the minority, but would counsel patience. So far, the appropriate congressional committees are doing a good job and setting up a select committee would just delay the process. Jumping on Speaker Boehner for not doing something he has no authority to do certainly does not help the situation.

405 posted on 05/21/2013 7:56:28 PM PDT by etcb (t)
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To: greeneyes
I saw/heard an attorney teaching a class a few days ago (on TV), and he went through instances of people making neutral statements and then getting legally hammered for that and lawyer said, say absolutely nothing.

That is what I was going to do if they found me to go before grand jury - not one word to that judge's people. It couldn't have been legal for them to accuse my friend over and over of lying. I thought she had to shut up or they were going to get her for something made up.

The friend was a computer expert and the lawless judge hated her guts. I was surprised the judge didn't indict her for something.

406 posted on 05/21/2013 8:03:42 PM PDT by Marcella (Prepping can save your life today. Going Galt is freedom.)
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To: 11th Commandment

The lights are on and the administration cockroaches are scurrying for cover!

Give her immunity and force her to testify or spend time un jail............


407 posted on 05/21/2013 8:04:24 PM PDT by Forty-Niner ( the barely bare, berry bear formally known as Ursus Arctos Horibilis...Hear me roar!)
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To: etcb

All the sources that I looked up indicate that a special prosecutor may be appointed by the judiciary or by Congress.

If we don’t get any names soon, this investigation/ prosecution will go nowhere.


408 posted on 05/21/2013 8:06:00 PM PDT by St_Thomas_Aquinas
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To: greeneyes

Crap - I’ve got severe thunderstorm warning until 1 am. The line of the present storm will soon be over me but I am on the end of it as most of it is north of me. Have my battery lantern by my chair if I lose power.


409 posted on 05/21/2013 8:06:06 PM PDT by Marcella (Prepping can save your life today. Going Galt is freedom.)
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To: onyx

.....and the stink rises to the top!


410 posted on 05/21/2013 8:08:29 PM PDT by Forty-Niner ( the barely bare, berry bear formally known as Ursus Arctos Horibilis...Hear me roar!)
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To: cornfedcowboy

“Don’t remember Watergate.”

I saw it all. The first time John Dean’s wife came in the room, all the men in the room nearly had a heart attack. She was an absolute knock out.


411 posted on 05/21/2013 8:09:16 PM PDT by Marcella (Prepping can save your life today. Going Galt is freedom.)
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To: Forty-Niner
Give her immunity and force her to testify or spend time un jail............

That comes later.

You don't offer immunity until you've learned what the truth actually is. You can't afford to give her immunity without that safeguard because she might then give misleading testimony...and she couldn't be charged with perjury.

She'll have another turn.

412 posted on 05/21/2013 8:13:53 PM PDT by okie01 (The Mainstream Media: IGNORANCE ON PARADE --)
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To: cornfedcowboy
A special prosecutor generally is a lawyer from outside the government appointed by an attorney general or, in the United States, by Congress to investigate a government official for misconduct while in office. A reasoning for such an appointment is that the governmental branch or agency may have political connections to those it might be asked to investigate. Inherently, this creates a conflict of interest and a solution is to have someone from outside the department lead the investigation.

The term "special prosecutor" may have a variety of meanings from one country to the next, from one government branch to the next within the same country, and within different agencies within each government branch. Critics of the use of special prosecutors argue that these investigators act as a "4th branch" to the government because they are not subject to limitations in spending or have deadlines to meet.

Attorneys in the United States may be appointed/hired particularly or employed generally by different branches of the government to investigate. When appointed/hired particularly by the Judicial Branch to investigate and, if justified, seek indictments in a particular judicial branch case, the attorney is called special prosecutor. When appointed/hired particularly by a governmental branch or agency to investigate alleged misconduct within that branch or agency, the attorney is called independent counsel. When employed by the state or political subdivision to assist in a particular Judicial Branch case when the public interest so requires, the attorney is called special counsel.

413 posted on 05/21/2013 8:14:02 PM PDT by kabar
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To: Dr. Sivana

I’m greedy, I want em all behind bars....Nuremburg proved you can’t rely on “I was just following Orders.” Hang em all says I.


414 posted on 05/21/2013 8:16:42 PM PDT by Forty-Niner ( the barely bare, berry bear formally known as Ursus Arctos Horibilis...Hear me roar!)
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To: DTogo

uh, but for the 2nd there would be no fifth..........


415 posted on 05/21/2013 8:20:17 PM PDT by Cen-Tejas (it's the debt bomb stupid!)
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To: Steely Tom

The sad truth is, she knows she’s more likely to get into serious legal trouble for lying to congress than targeting conservatives via the IRS. There’s more wiggle room on the targeting front than lying to congress and being caught in black and white.


416 posted on 05/21/2013 8:21:01 PM PDT by DB
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To: CodeToad

Nope.

“The claim and exercise of a constitutional right cannot be converted into a crime.· - Miller v. U.S., 230 F 2d 486, 489.


417 posted on 05/21/2013 8:26:56 PM PDT by djf (Rich widows: My Bitcoin address is... 1ETDmR4GDjwmc9rUEQnfB1gAnk6WLmd3n6)
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To: 3Fingas

Yes, and this woman should not profit from her years as an IRS employee. She should be paying massive fines, and lose her job, pension, and benefits in exchange for her immunity/testimony and freedom from incarceration. She should be prohibited from ever again working for the government in any capacity. In short hammer her into the ground for any testimony that provides immunity from prosecution.


418 posted on 05/21/2013 8:36:22 PM PDT by Forty-Niner ( the barely bare, berry bear formally known as Ursus Arctos Horibilis...Hear me roar!)
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To: redgolum; Marcella

Hats crimes are the equivalent of Orwellian thought crimes - it is presumed to know what another is thinking.

As we lose more and more of our freedoms, the level of evidence required will be dropped lower and lower.


419 posted on 05/21/2013 8:45:51 PM PDT by yorkiemom
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To: Marcella; redgolum

Nice! I love rain. I’d love any weather besides ‘hot, sunny, and clear.’


420 posted on 05/21/2013 8:47:16 PM PDT by yorkiemom
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