Fireworks on Capitol Hill After Former IRS Official Won't Testify [View all]
A tense scene ensued on Capitol Hill on Wednesday after a former IRS official targeted by Republicans in an investigation into the agency's targeting of conservative groups refused to testify before a House committee.
Lois Lerner, the former director of exempt organizations for the IRS, invoked her Fifth Amendment rights -- as she had during a previous hearing last year on the IRS's inapprorpriate scrutiny of conservative groups seeking non-profit status -- during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing.Issa had suggested this past weekend that Lerner had, in fact, decided to offer testimony. Her attorneys disputed Issa's characterization, and she ended up invoking her Fifth Amendment privileges on Wednesday.
Issa quickly gaveled the hearing shut over the impassioned objections of Rep. Elijah Cummings, Md., the top Democrat on the committee who was barred from asking questions or participating in the hearing in any official capacity.
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/fireworks-capitol-hill-after-former-irs-official-wont-testify-n44866
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