The director of the IRS division that singled out conservative groups refused to answer questions Wednesday at a House hearing on the program, as a Democratic lawmaker warned there would be “hell to pay” if the agency stonewalls Congress on its investigation.
The IRS official, Lois Lerner, invoked the Fifth Amendment Wednesday as she declared she would not testify or answer questions on the advice of counsel.
“I will not answer any questions or testify about the subject matter of this committee’s meeting,” she said.
However, her statements prompted confusion in the hearing room, as she delivered a brief opening statement in which she claimed she had done nothing wrong. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said that given her other remarks, she may have “effectively waived” her rights.
After further deliberation, she was ultimately dismissed.
It was an unusual start to Congress’ third hearing on the controversial IRS program. Before Lerner spoke, Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Stephen Lynch warned that if IRS officials don’t start cooperating more, “it will lead to a special prosecutor” being appointed.
“There will be hell to pay if that’s the route that we (choose) to go down,” he said.
Lynch was mainly referring to testimony from a Tuesday Senate hearing where other IRS officials did not provide the names of those who started the targeting program.
Lerner, before invoking her Fifth Amendment right, said in a brief opening statement that she had done nothing wrong, even though people might assume that by her decision not to answer questions from the committee.
“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 congressional committee.”
Lerner has emerged as a key figure in the scandal. She was the first to acknowledge the practice two weeks ago, and was aware of the program for years as head of the division. Though two officials have so far left the IRS in the wake of the controversy, she has not.
Lerner’s attorney William Taylor III made clear in advance of the hearing she would not answer questions. He also asked Issa in a letter if she could skip Wednesday’s hearing since she would be pleading the Fifth.
Taylor argued that forcing Lerner to appear “would have no purpose other than to embarrass or burden her.”
Late Tuesday, the House oversight committee released a statement saying Lerner was still under subpoena and would be required to appear.
Other former or outgoing IRS officials have already testified, and will continue to give their testimony on Wednesday.
The House committee heard Wednesday from Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Neal Wolin, as the search for someone who will claim responsibility continues. Wolin said there’s “no indication” the Treasury Department was involved in the program, a claim Issa called “astounding.”
On Tuesday, outgoing IRS Commissioner Steven Miller, was back in the hot seat as he testified for the second time in two weeks on Capitol Hill.
Miller expressed regret for the agency’s decision to use a planted question to go public with the IRS’s practice of singling out conservative groups.
It was one in a series of missteps that have not only publicly marred the reputation of the IRS but also called into question what the White House knew about the scandal and when they knew it.
“We’re not looking for people to be evasive but we want people forthright and straightforward with us,” Rep. Joseph Crowley, a Democrat from New York, told Fox News.
While Crowley did not go so far as to say Lerner should be let go, he did say, “the bottom line is that you cannot lie to Congress, be evasive or mislead. You must answer the question and not mislead Congress.”
WASHINGTON — A top IRS official in the division that reviews nonprofit groups will invoke the 5th Amendment and refuse to answer questions before a House committee investigating the agency’s improper screening of conservative nonprofit groups.
Lois Lerner, the head of the exempt organizations division of the IRS, won’t answer questions about what she knew about the improper screening — or why she didn’t disclose it to Congress, according to a letter from her defense lawyer, William W. Taylor III. Lerner was scheduled to appear before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.
“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 by Taylor to committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Vista). The letter, sent Monday, was obtained Tuesday by the Los Angeles Times.
DOCUMENT: Inspector General’s IRS report
Taylor, a criminal defense attorney from the Washington firm Zuckerman Spaeder, said that the Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation, and that the House committee has asked Lerner to explain why she provided “false or misleading information” to the committee four times last year.
Since Lerner won’t answer questions, Taylor asked that she be excused from appearing, saying that would “have no purpose other than to embarrass or burden her.” There was no immediate word whether the committee will grant her request.
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According to an inspector general’s report, Lerner found out in June 2011 that some staff in the nonprofits division in Cincinnati had used terms such as “Tea Party” and “Patriots” to select some applications for additional screening of their political activities. She ordered changes.
But neither Lerner nor anyone else at the IRS told Congress, even after repeated queries from several committees, including the House Oversight panel, about whether some groups had been singled out unfairly.
