On May 22, 2013, Lois Lerner, the director of the IRS division that singled out hundreds of conservative organizations blamed her subordinates for the targeting scandal, pleaded the Fifth Amendment, and then left the room.
Today House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) called Lois Lerner back to Congress to testify.
The Hill reported:
House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is hauling Lois Lerner back to Congress.
Issa told Lerner’s attorney in a Tuesday letter that he expected the retired IRS official to appear before his committee on March 5.
Lerner, the official at the center of the IRS targeting controversy, invoked her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination at a May 2013 hearing, just days after she apologized for the agency’s treatment of Tea Party groups.
But the Oversight Committee later ruled that Lerner waived her rights by making an opening statement, setting the stage for her recall next week.In his letter to William Taylor, Lerner’s attorney, Issa said that her testimony “remains critical to this committee’s investigation.”
“Because the committee explicitly rejected her Fifth Amendment privilege claim, I expect her to provide answers when the hearing reconvenes on March 5,” Issa wrote.
Taylor told The Hill he would probably respond to Issa on Wednesday.
Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.), the top Democrat at House Oversight, said that “only one thing has changed in the nine months since Lois Lerner invoked her Fifth Amendment right in response to Republican accusations of criminal activity – it’s an election year.”
