“She read a statement and then said she wouldn’t answer any questions. She was about to be dismissed then Trey Gowdy called a point of order and said she waived her 5th amendment rights by telling her side. She was dismissed subject to recall while the committed looks into whether she can do that legally.”
Fascinating.
She either has a really stupid lawyer or a smart one.
Seems like you could be right in the middle of testifying and then you could plead the 5th, doesn’t it?
Correct. Exercising the right to remain silent means remaining silent. Once you testify, you essentially waive that right; and testify is exactly what she just did.
Think of a criminal case where one is on trial for murder. Once the defendant decides to take the witness stand and answer questions from his own lawyer, he opens himself up to cross-examination. Once he decides to testify, he does not get to pick and choose which questions he will answer from the prosecutor.
The same goes for Lerner here. Once she decided to issue a statement, she opened herself up to cross-examination, (at which point she decided to invoke Amendment V). The mistake here is that they allowed her to read the statement to begin with before asking her a question they knew she wouldn't answer.
Talk about arrogance .
I think Gowdy is correct on this :)
If so, little miss Lerner has two options at this point - cooperate or go to jail.
Sucks to be her
Way to go Gowdy