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The director of the Internal Revenue Service’s Exempt Organizations division,
Lois Lerner, is invoking the Fifth Amendment and will not appear before Congress
to answer questions about the agency’s targeting of Tea Party and other
conservative groups.
By Eliana Johnson
May 21, 2013 3:38 PM
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/348973/lerner-take-5th
Lerner was scheduled to appear before the House Oversight committee tomorrow
to discuss the improper conduct of IRS employees who singled out conservative
groups, and why she failed to bring that behavior to the attention of Congress.
“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 from her
defense attorney, William Taylor, to committee chairman Darrell Issa, according
to the Los Angeles Times, which obtained a copy of the correspondence. Taylor
asked that the committee excuse Lerner from testifying since she will not answer
questions.
In testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee last week, the
outgoing commissioner of the IRS, Steven Miller, revealed that Lerner initially
disclosed the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups by planting a question at a
conference hosted by the American Bar Association.
Lerner learned that conservative groups were receiving improper scrutiny in June
of 2011 and ordered that her employees in the Tax Exempt and Government
Entities Division put an end to the practice. She failed to inform Congress,
however, despite several inquiries from lawmakers.
Lois Lerner, is invoking the Fifth Amendment and will not appear before Congress
to answer questions about the agency’s targeting of Tea Party and other
conservative groups.
By Eliana Johnson
May 21, 2013 3:38 PM
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/348973/lerner-take-5th
Lerner was scheduled to appear before the House Oversight committee tomorrow
to discuss the improper conduct of IRS employees who singled out conservative
groups, and why she failed to bring that behavior to the attention of Congress.
“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 from her
defense attorney, William Taylor, to committee chairman Darrell Issa, according
to the Los Angeles Times, which obtained a copy of the correspondence. Taylor
asked that the committee excuse Lerner from testifying since she will not answer
questions.
In testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee last week, the
outgoing commissioner of the IRS, Steven Miller, revealed that Lerner initially
disclosed the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups by planting a question at a
conference hosted by the American Bar Association.
Lerner learned that conservative groups were receiving improper scrutiny in June
of 2011 and ordered that her employees in the Tax Exempt and Government
Entities Division put an end to the practice. She failed to inform Congress,
however, despite several inquiries from lawmakers.
