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Posted on 05/22/2013 12:34:42 PM PDT by Second Amendment First
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa said embattled IRS official Lois Lerner waived her Fifth Amendment rights and will be hauled back to appear before his panel again.
The California Republican said Lerner’s Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination was voided when she gave an opening statement this morning denying any wrongdoing and professing pride in her government service.
“When I asked her her questions from the very beginning, I did so so she could assert her rights prior to any statement,” Issa told POLITICO. “She chose not to do so — so she waived.”
Lerner triggered the IRS scandal on May 10 when she acknowledged that the agency wrongly targeted conservative groups applying for a tax exemption. Her lawyer told the House committee earlier this week that she would exercise her Fifth Amendment.
She appeared before Issa’s committee this morning under the order of a subpoena and surprised many by reading a strong statement to the panel.
“I have not done anything wrong,” she said. “I have not broken any laws. I have not violated any IRS rules or regulations, and I have not provided false information to this or any other committee.”
Issa dismissed her from the committee room once it became clear she wouldn’t answer questions.
Lerner’s decision to speak at all immediately triggered a dust-up among lawmakers who were confused about whether she gave up her Fifth Amendment protections when she made an opening statement.
Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), a former federal prosecutor, said Lerner lost her rights the minute she started proclaiming her innocence, and that lawmakers therefore were entitled to question her. But Ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings of Maryland said hearing rules were not like those of a courtroom.
During the incident, Issa did not flat-out say whether or not Lerner had indeed waived her rights but instead tried to coax her into staying by offering to narrow the scope of questions.
By the afternoon, Issa was taking a harder stand.
“The precedents are clear that this is not something you can turn on and turn off,” he told POLITICO. “She made testimony after she was sworn in, asserted her innocence in a number of areas, even answered questions asserting that a document was true … So she gave partial testimony and then tried to revoke that.”
He said he was not expecting that.
“I understand from her counsel that there was a plan to assert her Fifth Amendment rights,” he continued. “She went ahead and made a statement, so counsel let her effectively under the precedent, waive — so we now have someone who no longer has that ability.”
What can you expect from a former car thief turned congress critter?
That's an inappropriate comment to make about a former bomb disposal expert.
Issa has seen the Valley in the Shadow of death up close and personal.
This is what I was thinking. If you testify and believe you have done nothing wrong, it seems a contradiction to refuse to answer because of the fear of self-incrimination.
I know! President Crazy Uncle.
STASI.
Ask Scooter how it all works out.....
You know what I say? You wanna run with the jackals, expect to be dinner at some point.
Skulls said that Lerner is also a lawyer, so she should have known what she was doing.
Sekulow. Damn faulty IPad.
Who? Maybe other Democrats and a couple of Rinos, but no one whose opinion really matters.
If he gets that crap into an appeals court she could be home free for years and yet another obama delaying tactic would be at work.
In context, with counsel, that is the same as a confession. She's the canary...
Right away the left will say that’s fine for a courtroom but what about testifying before Congress? I think they(taylor the III could tie it up if they want. However if they do that could prolong the entire irs probe. So in a way they are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.I don’t know if there are technical rules for taking the fifth,when it applies when it doesn’t when testifying before Congress.
That is the big question here.
I hate the left and I respect the rule of law. Otherwise we should all blow through a conch and hope we get justice
Ms. Lerner....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L18jsq8qk9Q
No he waived her right by addressing the issues. My son in law is an attorney specializing in constitutional law and he was telling me that if you say I am innocent of x, y, and z, they are then allowed to question you about x, y, and z. If she had wanted to assert her fifth amendment privilege, all she should have been counseled to say is her name and then she should answer nothing. Not even questions about where she worked as that opens her up to answer questions about potential illegal activity at her job.
If so, then perhaps the entire thing was a staged show from the start to the finish, and Obama is the one being strung up...
Darrell Issa “they can’t be so dumb as to not know so much “
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