Obama Administration Begins To Crumble Under Weight Of Scandals

IRS chief takes the 5th, won’t testify

Highlighting today’s House Oversight Committee hearing is IRS official Lois Lerner’s decision to invoke the Fifth Amendment and not answer questions. Lerner is still under subpoena to testify, meaning she will have to invoke her rights in person — and likely repeatedly.

Also appearing is Douglas Shulman, the former IRS commissioner who also testified in front of a Senate committee on Tuesday. Rounding out the witnesses are the inspector general who investigated the wrongdoing — J. Russell George — and Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal S. Wolin, who learned of the investigation into the IRS’s targeting last summer.

Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) told IRS officials on the panel that there will be “hell to pay” if they refuse to answer the committee’s questions — a message clearly targeted at Lois Lerner, whose lawyer has said she will plead the Fifth Amendment and not answer questions.

“If you refuse to answer,” Lynch said, “you will leave us no choice but to ask for a special counsel or the appointment of a special prosecutor to get to the bottom of this.”

Lynch added: “I hope that’s not the approach of the IRS going forward, because there will be hell to pay.”

Lynch’s superior on the committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), previously asked the committee to respect Lerner’s right to plead the Fifth.

Jim Jordan ties IRS scandal to Benghazi

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who chairs an oversight subcommittee on regulatory affairs and government spending, sought to tie the situation at the Internal Revenue Service to the panel’s ongoing investigation into the Sept. 11, 2012 attack at the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya that killed four Americans.

Jordan dismissed statements by the Obama administration and IRS officials that just a handful of employees were aware of and conducted improper review of organizations seeking tax-exempt status, saying he didn’t believe those explanations since the same officials worked together to decide how the agency would reveal the improper actions at a May 10 conference hosted by the American Bar Association.

Then, Jordan tied the ongoing woes at the IRS to the Benghazi attack, another subject under review by the committee

“This administration, which told us and told the American people that the attack that killed four Americans in Benghazi was the work — was caused by a video — is now the same administration who expects us to believe was just the result of two rogue agents in Cincinnati,” Jordan said. “The people don’t buy it, the American people get it. They just want this administration to give them the truth. And that’s why this hearing is so important.” source – Washington Post

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