Posted on 05/21/2013 2:17:32 PM PDT by Nachum
Lois Lerner, the IRS official who headed the tax-exempt division when the targeting of tea-party groups took place, plans to invoke her Fifth Amendment right to refuse to answer questions before Congress on Wednesday.
But Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, the chairman of the House oversight committee where Lerner was to appear, has issued a subpoena to Lerner anyway.
The subpoena was delivered after the committee received the letter from Lerner's attorney, a committee aide said.
Her attorney, William Taylor, said in a letter obtained by National Journal, that Lerner had "not committed any crime or made any misrepresentation" but that she would decline to testify at a House hearing on Wednesday.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationaljournal.com ...
POPCORN!
presumably she can’t give a statement either right?
I can certainly see where someone would take the fifth even when they didn't think they committed a crime. The law is often vague and this has major political overtones.
That said. She doesn't have to testify. You are the division head of the Tax Exempt division of the IRS and your division has been targeting political opponents for the last 3 years. And Congress now wants to know why you mislead them on 4 separate occasions? Are you guilty?
Best case: you are guilty of complete incompetence, not knowing what was going on in your division and allowing political targeting because it IS your responsibility.
Worst Case: You're a a partisan hack who directed the targeting and you are guilty as Hell.
Either way you should rot in jail. And both legal courts and the court of public opinion should rule this way. At this point I really think the burden of proof is on her, to prove that she is innocent. Because the evidence is overwhelming that the political targeting occurred and she had the responsibility as the division director.
“More than that, Issa should immediately propose sanctions against her, that while her 5th Amendment rights do protect her from self-incriminating testimony in a criminal case, they *do not* protect her employment by the federal government.”
Put her through hours of testimony. Let her take the Fifth hundreds of times. Then pass a resolution demanding she be fired. When Obama ignores the resolution, the House should pull the funding for her position. The House controls the purse strings.
Time for bare knuckle fighting Mr. Boehner.
I am not sure if she made the math comment, but that is the least of it. :(
Just a thought.... Would her failure to cooperate qualify her for any obstruction of justice or other charges?
Do you have this for your files?
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=-m0IfrBt2Ug&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D-m0IfrBt2Ug
Wish a major news would play it in leu of her testimony!
She’s taking the fifth so she won’t perjure herself .......
previous testimony could send her to jail!
‘Wish a major news would play it in leu of her testimony!’
Me too :)
Issa and the committee can’t officially draw any conclusions, but we’re not any kind of jury — we’re certainly allowed to speculate here in our little clubhouse.
Fr mail
The relevant part of 5A just says they can’t compel you to testify against yourself. Your reasons are whatever you want them to be, or no reason at all.
Ha, easy: "The Tea Party is the enemy, Mister Chairman."
Until June 10. That's when George Zimmerman goes on trial in Florida.
Good one — the “DUmmies” are doing exactly that:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3022331/posts
Sounds like a great question to me. I don’t see how she can plead the fifth on that question. Only if they ask her “Did you target...” You can’t withhold information to protect someone else, the fifth only covers incriminating yourself.
The Republicans - - if they have any balls, and I’m not counting on it - - need to fire brutal question after brutal question at Lerner and force her to recite her “fifth amendment right against self-incrimination” a hundred times. A thousand times.
Let’s see how long the Chicago mob’s omerta holds up.
Worst Worst Case: You were acting on orders of your superiors and, therefore, you are part of a criminal conspiracy.
She’s already perjured herself with the previous testimony. And the House is on to her. Her silence won’t stop a conviction.
She’s already perjured herself with the previous testimony. And the House is on to her. Her silence won’t stop a conviction.
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