On a vote of 22-17, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee today approved a resolution determining that IRS official Lois Lerner waived her 5th amendment rights when at a May 22, 2013 hearing she offered testimony and answered questions. Lerner was the Director of Exempt Organizations at the IRS during the time that political groups applying for tax exempt status were being targeted for extra scrutiny.
As Director of Exempt Organizations, Lerner was in a unique position to answer key questions about the targeting, according to Issa. On May 22, after being subpoenaed to testify, Lerner appeared before the Committee and gave a voluntary opening statement denying any wrongdoing and stating that she intended to invoke her Fifth Amendment right. Several Committee members raised objections, contending the witness had effectively waived her Fifth Amendment right by reading a self-selected and entirely voluntary opening statement that was entered into the record. After conferring with counsel, Issa allowed Lerner to leave and later recessed the hearing so the issue may be resolved.
“I believe Lois Lerner waived her Fifth Amendment protection,” Issa (R-Calif.) said before the committee vote. “She made four specific denials. Those denials are at the core of the committee’s investigation into this matter.”
Issa, said in a statement released Friday that the vote brings the Committee “closer to hearing Ms. Lerner’s important testimony about the targeting of conservatives. The Committee remains focused on hearing Ms. Lerner’s full and truthful testimony.”
According to Politico, the Committee is open to pitches from Lerner’s lawyer about how she might want to testify, including the idea of granting her partial immunity that would allow her to answer questions without fear that her testimony could be used against her in court.
Treasury Department’s inspector general revealed this week that six progressive groups were targeted by the IRS compared to 292 conservative groups. The inspector general found that 100 percent of Tea Party groups seeking special tax status were put under IRS review, while only 30 percent of the progressive groups felt the same ssure.
Democrats had tried to claimed that progressive groups were targeted as much as the Tea Party groups from May 2010-May 2012.The letter from the Treasury Department Inspector General for Tax Administration revealed that there just weren’t many progressive groups who even sought special tax exempt status, according to the Washington Examiner. A total of 20 sought it, and six were probed. All 292 Tea Party groups, meanwhile, were part of the IRS witchhunt.
The Committee defeated an amendment offered by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes-Norton, D-D.C., to effectively kill the resolution by a vote of 20-16.
The committee hasn’t yet scheduled a date to recall Lerner.